


Speak to Me

by shiningdragonair



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - College/University, Cute, Fluff, M/M, Muteness, POV Eren Yeager, Sign Language
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-03-13
Updated: 2015-07-18
Packaged: 2018-03-17 12:55:12
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 34,878
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3530180
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shiningdragonair/pseuds/shiningdragonair
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>From a tumblr prompt: Eren is mute so in order to communicate he carries a notebook, sticky notes and at least ten pens with him all the time. Eren works at a coffee shop with some of his friends and Levi comes to visit them after there's a heavy rainstorm outside. Eren is his waiter. After he comes back with his coffee, there's a note attached to his coffee cup. Eren continues to work and everytime he passes by his table, Levi sticks something against his hand and they continue to communicate. Levi learns he's mute.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> All of Eren’s notes are in the «brackets» and Levi’s responses are in the [[brackets]] ^_^

Pouring rain battered the front windows of our coffee shop, competing with the roar of after-class chatter. Students from the local college filled the tables and swapped stories of the day and complained about missing tonight’s parties thanks to asshole professors. Sometimes I wish I could join their conversations and tell them that they’re lucky they can rant like that never mind get invited to parties. I wiped the remnants of chocolate chip muffins and wasted espresso off of my table. Scraps of my notes to my customers were crumpled in the center. I swept them into the trash and dropped off the dishes to Connie. 

"Busy this afternoon, huh?" he said as I handed him the oversized china. 

I nodded and flashed a smile. When my hands were free, I scribbled onto a post-it: «These damn kids are messy as hell» and stuck it on the damp counter. It took a moment for Connie to realize it was there. 

"Oh!" He read it over and let out a guffaw. "You’re damn right. Hey, I think you got another customer over there."

"Hey, Eren!" Mikasa called from the cashier stand. "Table 16 - mocha latte for here with a blueberry scone!" 

I swung out from behind the sinks and tossed a scone in the oven and set it for 30 seconds while I prepped the drink. I glanced over at the table and saw my new customer shake water from his hair and place his trench coat neatly on the back of his chair. He sat down and scrolled through his phone with a calm, collected expression on his face. He wiped his forehead as excess rainwater raced down his head. 

"Eren!"

Armin’s voice caught my attention and I yanked the food from the oven seconds before it burned. I’d never seen this customer before. Most of our customers were regulars, so they knew that I couldn’t speak. Now I had to get to know a brand new person and eventually cross that point where they realize I’m mute. The worst part was that this guy was really fucking gorgeous and I was going to make a fool out of myself.

As we waited for fresh coffee, Mikasa shoved me out onto the floor with the food to serve him. The plate shook in my hand as I teetered to table 16. Two steps away, thunder cracked overhead. My already shaky stature disintegrated along with the ceramic plate and scone that shattered across the tile floor. The shop fell silent and blood rushed to my face. I could hear my heart pounding in my head. The man stood up and began to pick up the pieces at my feet. In a panic I rushed down to the floor and tried to shoo him off so that I could take care of it, but I couldn’t do anything that wouldn’t require shoving. 

"I got it," he said in a cool baritone. It was velvet. "You get a broom and dustpan."

I nodded and scurried over to the barista stand. I yanked Mikasa behind the wall, out of sight, and pulled out my notebook.

"What the - ?!"

«Help me»

"Why? You can clean it up."

«I’m nervous»

"Why? He’s just another customer. You’ve done this a million times with new ones. It’ll be fine. Get the scone made and I’ll clean."

I buried my face in my hands as she snatched the broom and pan off of the wall. Fixing the scone, my gaze was fixed on the man and Mikasa who were cleaning up my mess. He flashed a smile at her and by god it was a glorious sight. I felt my face warming up again as I pulled the pastry out of the oven and back onto a plate. Mikasa made her way back over.

«You didn’t tell him did you?»

"Of course not. It’s your thing to tell. Or, you know." She took her spot at the register again.

I scribbled a note onto one of my smaller post-its: «Sorry about that» and stuck it on the mug. My steps were quick and deliberate and I haphazardly placed the food and drink on the table and whisked away. I snatched my washcloth from behind the counter and cleared off another empty table in my zone. As I passed by the man’s table, I felt something stick to my hand. I clutched what felt like my own post-it and read it behind the counter. Under my original message was a response in small, black ink that matched his hair. I never got replies.

[[Don’t worry about it. What’s your name?]]

I pulled out another post-it and sped past the table, sticking it to the plate. 

«Eren. Yours?»

I stood in the corner of the dining room attempting to look busy. I could feel Mikasa and Armin glaring at me for being an idiot, but I didn’t care right now. I got a reply. I glided back across the room and felt the post it on my hand again. This time I didn’t bother waiting until I was behind the counter. 

[[Levi. I’ve never been here before - ]]

The message continued on the back.

[[ - and I’m definitely coming back]]

"Eren, table 19. Two caramel macchiatos, one with soy. For here."

Now that the coffee was fresh, it took no time to polish off the drinks. I scribbled my response on a bigger post-it and stuck it on the table as I went over to 19.

«Why? So you can watch me break more dishes?»

The customers at 19 were regulars, so they knew about me. 

"No notes today?" one asked as I placed their drinks in front of them. I smiled and pulled out my pad again. I drew a smiley face on it and stuck it on his forehead. They both laughed as I smiled politely and walked toward the self-serve station to refill the milk carafes. I detoured around Levi’s table and felt the paper hit my palm. I snuck a look when I got to the refrigerators.

[[So I can pass notes with the cute waiter]]

I felt my face burn as I pulled out today’s gallons of milk and half-and-half. I put them on the station counter and paused before writing a new note. I filled the containers, put the dairy away, and swung back out onto the floor to clean up another table, sticking my new note on Levi’s.

«You have a really nice voice. I’m jealous»

On my way back to the sinks, my hands were full. As I passed Levi’s table and felt the note on my tricep. I tossed the dishes to Connie and snatched the note off of my arm.

[[I’d like to hear yours. Especially since you’re so quiet]]

My whole body deflated. I set myself up for this on purpose, but I still hated this. Most people would give me a sympathetic look and treat me nicely out of pity, like my regulars at 19. I wrote out my reply, walked straight up to his table, and handed the note directly to him.

«You and me both»

I watched him read the note. When he finished, he folded it up and placed it on the table. He deliberately rose from his chair, pulled out the one opposite him, and offered it to me in complete silence. I stared at him for an eternity until he said, “Sit.”

I glanced over to the counter where the entire staff watched as I sat down. When Levi returned to his seat, he lifted his hands and, in perfect sign language, said, “Well, then it’s a good thing we can talk like this instead.”

My mouth must have turned to a stupid grin because Levi let out this obnoxious cackle and we continued to sign for the rest of the night.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You asked for me to keep it going, so here you go! Thanks for all the support!

There’s usually a wonderful sense of calm after we close up the coffee shop. No customers, no having to deal with being mute with newbies, and it’s just quiet. But of course, this time it was different. This time, I’d been sitting with Levi for the entire afternoon and evening. We usually start kicking people out around 10 since we close at 9, but Levi had ignored Mikasa’s not-so-subtle hints to get out. By the time she got him to leave, it was almost 10:45 and I had to sign to him and say that if he didn’t go, he’ll probably never get to come back in here again.

“Fine, fine,” Levi conceded aloud. He rose from his seat and swung his trench coat on. The rain hadn’t let up since this afternoon. “And just when my hair began to dry,” he sighed as he ran his fingers through his bangs and across his undercut. I must’ve been staring because I heard Mikasa snap her fingers and say, “Eren, this café isn’t gonna clean itself up.” I meekly waved goodbye to Levi. He let out a light chuckle, turned on his heels, and strolled out the door. I heard a tap on the glass and quickly glanced outside.

“What was that?” Mikasa asked.

I whipped out my post-its.

<<Just some kids. You just had to make him leave>>

“What? We have to close. I’m not staying open so that this _guy_ can just linger.” She continued wiping down tables and clearing dishes. I just stayed put and pouted a little. Okay, I pouted a lot. After, like, a minute, Armin swung out of the kitchen.

“What’s wrong?”

Before I could get a note scribbled out, Mikasa said, “He’s just upset that I shooed out that guy at 16.”

“Mocha latte, blueberry scone, and striking good looks?”

“You know what,” she began, almost throwing dishes into a basin, “he wasn’t even that good looking.”

I scratched out a message on a note, scurried over to her, and stuck it on her hand.

<<Whether he’s good looking or not isn’t the point>>

Armin moved to us to read the note. Followed shortly by Connie and the rest of the closing staff. What’d I just start? I started to wring my hands and backed away to a dirty table. I whipped a towel out from my apron and started cleaning.

“What is it then?” Mikasa pressed.

I ignored her and continued to clean. Full hands meant no communication. I could stay in my little world in my head an ignore everyone else. Besides, the reason’s only important to me. They didn’t need to know that he was the first person besides Mom to sign a full conversation with me. That he made me feel like a normal person. No pity or anything. I sighed heavily and brought dirty dishes to the sinks. I could feel everyone’s eyes following me. I scribbled out a note and stuck it on the register before heading back to the sink to wash the dishes.

<<Just drop it so we can get out of here>>

Mikasa tore the note off of the computer and turned to everyone. “Alright everyone, let’s just clean up and we can go home. Tomorrow’s Saturday, so we’ve got a busy day ahead of us.” I sighed again and kept washing the plates and mugs. No hands, no words. I started thinking about the conversation I had with Levi. It was at least six hours. _Let’s see, he came in around 3_. Okay, it was more like seven hours. I think I did most of the talking. I don’t remember. All I knew was that I didn’t want to stop. I felt a hand on my arm that interrupted my reverie. It was Mikasa again. I tried to shake her off and go back to the dishes.

“Eren,” her voice was much softer now, “I’m just looking out for you.”

I raised my eyebrow.

“Just because someone knows sign language doesn’t mean they’re a good person. Just be careful. Please?” I set a mug down and nodded. She wrapped her arms around me in an awkward sideways hug. I rested my head on hers.

She’s still my sister.

***

“ _You_ get the weirdos?” Mikasa spat at Armin as we walked back home under our own umbrellas. “As if. I had a customer call me over because his chocolate chip cookie had too many chocolate chips in it. He wanted me to take them _out_ of the cookie.” Armin cackled as we turned onto a main road.

As their conversation continued on, I looked into all of the windows of the closed shops along the main stretch of stores in our town. They’re a bunch of mom-and-pop shops that sell everything from records to useless tchotchke shit, but all of it seems to be a hit with the college student population. I mean, where else can you get a wall clock shaped like a Siberian husky puppy that woofs on the hour? Just past the record shop was a small bookstore. I like to read, but we can’t really afford much outside of food and the essentials – so the books I do get to read are really just from Armin’s classes. But one of the book titles caught my eye: “Beginning Sign Language.” I stopped walking. I never made much of a fuss that Mikasa and Armin didn’t know sign language and we got by with the notes, but after talking with Levi, going back to just notes with them wasn’t exactly ideal. I tried to find a price on it, but it must’ve been on the back. I looked over to Mikasa and Armin and they were already a few stores down, not noticing that I stopped. I jogged to catch up with them and continued thinking about earlier.

***

_“You know we’ve been talking for about two hours and Mikasa hasn’t stopped glaring at me,” I signed sheepishly._

_Levi shrugged. “It’s not that busy in here anymore anyway.”_

_I glanced around the shop. He was right. Less than half the tables were full and it was still pouring outside, so not many people were on the street. I played with the ties on my apron. Levi cleared his throat to get my attention. When I looked up, he said, “What’s wrong?”_

_“I probably should get back to work,” I answered attempting to get up. I felt his hand wrap around my wrist. I looked at my wrist and felt my face get hot. And I mean_ hot _. I looked over to Mikasa. She was in her manager mode. Hands on her hips, tapping her foot. I signaled for Levi to just give me a minute. I raced over to her and scribbled a note._

_< <Please, please just let me keep talking to him.>>_

_She sighed._

_< <I’ll work a double tomorrow, I don’t care. Just please.>>_

_“Fine.”_

_I quickly gave her a hug and scurried to grab a clean mug. Coffee was fresh, so I quickly made another mocha latte and brought it back with me._

_“Eren – !”_

_I heard her grumble something under her breath about giving away free drinks. I flashed her a toothy grin and sat back down and offered Levi the fresh cup._

_“You didn’t have to,” he said aloud._

_“I have to find a way to keep you here,” I signed. “Where’d you learn to sign, anyway? You’re one of the best I’ve seen.”_

_“I had a friend who was deaf when I was little. My parents worked with him and I picked up sign language along the way.”_

_“I wish you were my friend. No one really signs with me.”_

_Levi took a sip of his coffee. “Well we’re friends now, aren’t we?”_

_I shrugged. Were we really friends?_

***

“Yoo-hoo, Eren?” Armin called out. I was totally spaced out and almost twenty feet away from the front door. I smiled apologetically, if that’s even a thing, and made my way back to them. “Looks like someone was miles away in thought.”

“More like a few hours earlier,” Mikasa quipped as she unlocked the door.

“Oh ri-i-i-ight.” Armin grinned at me. I raised my brow. “Who was he anyway? Did you catch his name, Mikasa?”

She shook her head and I pulled out my post-its as we spilled into the living room.

<<Levi>> I scrawled onto the pad as I collapsed into my huge, red armchair. Yes, my armchair. No one else sits here. They know better. I tossed the pad onto the table.

“Levi,” the two said in unison. I pulled out my mini dry erase board that rested on the ground next the chair. I fingered through my color selections and pulled out a purple marker.

<<Do you know if he’s at the university or something?>>

Armin thought for a second. “I’m not sure. It’s a pretty big university, remember? And I’m only in the literature department.” He pulled his laptop out from his school bag that sat next to his spot on the couch. “I’ll check the directory. Give me a minute. No last name?”

I shook my head.

“Okay, let’s do some digging.”

I watched Armin push his blond hair out of his face as he logged in to his university-issued computer. Of the three of us, Armin’s the only one who had the grades to get into any college on a scholarship, full ride. Mikasa and me, not so much. Not that we’re stupid or anything, Armin’s just that brilliant. That’s how we scored this place. The university wanted Armin to study there so badly they let him have his choice of residence. It’s not the _closest_ to the school, but a shuttle drives around town. It was the only place that had living accommodations for the three of us. I remember this place being completely empty when we got here, with nothing but a refrigerator, stove, mattresses, and bookshelves. The books were the first things to come in. As a world lit major, he’s really amassed a huge collection. I’ve thumbed through a few and read some of my favorites over and over again, but more and more just keep coming in.

“Here we go,” he announced after a few minutes. “There’re only two people with the name Levi at school and one’s a professor of mine, so I’m assuming he must be this one here.” Mikasa came in from the kitchen with a sandwich made. Peanut butter and banana. She ripped a chunk out of it.

“Sho,” she said, mouth full, “whassit say?”

“Levi Ackerman. Ackerman?” We looked to Mikasa.

“What? I’ve never seen him before. There’s seven billion people in the world. Keep going.”

“Levi Ackerman, PhD. He’s a professor at the university, but he’s on sabbatical right now. He’s in the Foreign Languages and Linguistics department. Explains why I haven’t seen him.”

I scribbled onto my board.

<<What’s he work on?>>

“His PhD is in…interesting. It’s says here that he got his PhD in Applied Linguistics and his research interests are contact linguistics, bilingualism, second language acquisition, and…hm. Sign language acquisition.”

“That’s pretty cool,” Mikasa admitted.

“Explains how he knows how to sign,” Armin commented. Smiling, I wrote another line.

<<He learned as a kid, like me>>

“Wait, you guys spent all that time together talking and he failed to mention that he worked at the university? What’s up with that?” Mikasa wondered.

I shrugged.

***

 _“Where do you go to school?” Levi asked after he polished off his fourth mocha latte. The caffeine didn’t seem to affect him at all. He remained incredibly calm and composed. His breathing was steady. Meanwhile, the idiot who_ isn’t _drinking coffee is completely losing it over the fact that someone with a pulse is talking with him. And he happened to look really good._

_“I just work here,” I explained. “I don’t have the grades to get scholarships.”_

_“That’s a shame.”_

_I shrugged. “I read whatever Armin brings home.”_

_“Who’s Armin again?”_

_I pointed to him behind the counter, loading up the brewer again. “He’s my best friend. And he’s smart as hell.”_

_“What’s his major?”_

_“World literature.”_

_“Hm,” he said aloud. “Interesting.” He went back to signing. “What’s your favorite book?”_

_“Before I answer anything else, you have to tell me something about you.”_

_“Fair enough. Ask me whatever you want.”_

_I looked out the window and thought about what to ask him. The rain was still coming down hard. I heard some thunder rumbling in the distance. Children were playing in the rain, much to the chagrin of their parents. I couldn’t help but crack a smile. I felt unfamiliar fingers rest on my hand, so I glanced down and saw that they were Levi’s. On cue, my face started boiling again. I’m such an idiot._

_“You were spacing out,” he signed, grinning. That’s the first real smile I’d seen out of him and, dear god, it was beautiful._

_“Sorry.” I thought for a second. “What’s your number?”_

_Levi ran his hands through his hair and nonchalantly rested his elbow on the back of his chair. He looked at me with a half smile and his sharp gray eyes. The look on his face was new to me. No idea what it meant. There has to be a word for it, but I really don’t know. What I_ did _know is that it made me feel like the most important person in the room. He motioned for me to hand him a post-it. I obliged and he wrote out his number in black ink and familiar handwriting. I grinned from ear to ear._

_“Adorable,” he subtly signed. I don’t think he knew I saw, but I did._

_I definitely did._

_***_

I went into my room and shut the door. I hadn’t told them about Levi giving me his number. Well, about me _asking_ for his number, and, let’s face it, I wanna keep it that way for now. I changed into my pajamas and stood in front of the mirror. Rubbing my Adam’s apple, I cleared my throat. Like countless tries before, I tried to say my name, but like usual, nothing happened. I sighed and flopped onto my bed. Don’t know why I try it every night, but deep down I just hope that my voice will just magically appear. I know it won’t, but hey, wouldn’t it be nice if it did?

I pulled out my phone and set my alarm for 6am. I promised Mikasa I’d work a double and she’ll kill me if I go back on it now. I shuffled up to my pillows and pulled the blankets over me. I thought back to the last thing Levi said to me. His signs kept replaying over and over and over…

***

_I heard a tap on the glass and quickly glanced out the window. It was Levi. He quickly signed a question I was hoping for since he replied to my first note._

_“See you tomorrow?”_

_I quickly nodded before Mikasa asked, “What was that?”_

_I whipped out my post-its._

_< <Just some kids. You just had to make him leave.>>_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> <3


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't stop writing this >.>

6am is not my friend. 6am is not fun. 6am shouldn’t exist. I hit the snooze about three times before I finally got up. I fumbled around the dark house because there was no way in hell I was burning my retinas with the lights. The pre-dawn sky was just fine. A double meant working twelve hours: 8am to 8pm. Since the three of us just come home all together, I’ll end up being there all day. Sometimes I think I’m better off setting up a bed there. I haphazardly grabbed yesterday’s jeans, a new black t-shirt, socks, underwear and I kicked up the shower. Luckily we have a window in there, so lights remained off. The steam from the hot water quickly fogged up the glass on the mirror and window. A message showed up on the mirror above the sink.

“Have a good day!”

I smiled and relaxed a bit. Armin always did this before I went into work early in the mornings. It started way before we even moved into this place. We used to have sleepovers almost every day after his parents died. He would have to go into school early for extracurriculars and shit and he’d write out a message on the mirror so that when I got ready to go, it’d show up. When we moved in together, we’d leave them for each other before work. Mikasa used the other bathroom in the house because, let’s face it, we’d just get in each other’s way. I hit shuffle on my phone and got into the shower. It wasn’t long before I was thinking about Levi and how he said he would see me today. Was he gonna ask me to sit with him again? Was I gonna be passing notes? _I should probably bring a new pad of post-its._ Thinking about him got me excited. I mean he was someone I could talk to. That’s normal, right? And he said I was cute. No one’s ever told that before. Is _he_ normal?

Three and a half songs later, I turned off the water and checked the time. 7:03. Right on time. I quickly dried off and got dressed and fixed my hair, which was pretty much just a quick sweep of my hand through it and hoping for the best. I stared at myself in the mirror for a bit and tried, again, to say my name. Nothing. I shrugged it off, re-fogged the mirror and left Armin a note.

“See you later!”

***

On the way to work, I stopped in front of the bookstore. “Beginning Sign Language” was still sitting on the display in the window. I took a picture of the cover and continued on my way.

***

“Alright guys, ready to open?” Mikasa announced at 7:50 sharp. Everyone groaned. “What?”

“Can’t we just have these last ten minutes to ourselves? No one’s waiting out there,” Connie whined, throwing himself onto the counter. He let out a tired groan. Marco and Historia pulled him off the metal surface and propped him upright. Mikasa shot him an exasperated look. “Fine. But I’m unlocking the door.” We all sat around the biggest table there, except Mikasa who unlocked the front door and scrolled through her phone at the register.

“Why does she make us open before the right time?” Connie whispered to me. “Doesn’t she know that half our customer-base was out getting hammered last night? They’re not rollin’ in here until like ten the earliest.” He rested is head down on the table. Marco inched over to him and whispered loud enough for us to hear: “Maybe that girl who orders all the pastries will come in today.” He sprung up, his face red.

“What?! N-No, she won’t. Besides, she doesn’t even notice me.” He scratched his peach-fuzz head. “I-I don’t even know her name.”

“Her name’s Sasha,” Historia chimed in through a yawn. She rested her head on her palm. “She’s here, like, every Saturday, so, yeah. She’ll probably be here.” HIstoria nudged Connie with her fist. He turned an even brighter red, which extended past his face all the way back through his scalp. I pulled out my fresh stack of post-its.

<<You should talk to her>>

“Y-You think so?”

I nodded and smiled.

“I mean if you could have a conversation with that guy yesterday – ”

I immediately felt my face getting warmer. Historia and Marco didn’t know about Levi. I frantically waved for him to stop talking, but it was too late.

“Guy?”

“What guy?”

I buried my face in my hands. _Please, just please, shut up._

“Yeah, he was a new customer,” Connie explained. “He was about my height and had a trench coat on. Super black hair with a killer undercut.” I could feel the three of them looking at me. I glanced over at Mikasa who, too, was giving me a look. She shrugged with an “it’s- _your_ -problem” look and went back to her phone. Connie continued. “And then, next thing I see, Eren’s sitting at the table with him having a full on conversation in sign language until we closed and even like an _hour_ afterward!”

I swear I never wanted to strangle anyone until that point.

“Oh man, look at you, Eren! You’re so _red_!” Historia commented. _Thank you, I hadn’t noticed._ “Do you like him?”

<<What do you mean?>>

Marco butted in. “I think she means do you have a crush on him?”

<<No! Don’t be ridiculous. You know I don’t like being the center of attention>>

_Did I have a crush on him?_

***

By 10 o’clock, the place was buzzing. All of our tables were filled and we even cleaned off some of our outdoor tables for people to sit. It was a beautiful day outside and the town was alive. We split the shop into three. Historia handled the outside, I took care of the middle of the shop, and Marco took the back just in case we needed to open another register. Every five minutes, I’d glance over at the door to see if Levi came in, but nothing yet. I wasn’t surprised, I mean, it’s only 10am. He didn’t show up yesterday until about 3.

“Eren! Mocha latte and a double choco cookie to 12!”

My heart skipped at the sound of “mocha latte.” _Did I miss him come in?_ I whipped around to see if he was at the register, but no. I glided back to the coffee machine and automatically mixed together the latte. I scrawled out a note that said “Enjoy!” and stuck it to the mug, grabbed a plate and put the cookie on it. I delivered the drink and pastry and cleared off three other tables. Saturdays were usually filled with non-regulars around here. Families visiting their kids at school, people visiting the university, or, now that the weather was getting warmer, people come over from the neighboring towns to do some boutique shopping at those mom-and-pop stores. I limited most of my communication to cordial, customer service-y things. Smiling a lot. Most people probably just thought I had laryngitis or something. Better off that way I suppose.

Around 11, I heard Mikasa call me over. We were slowing down for lunch and I knew a break was coming my way.

“Why don’t you take 15, Eren. We’re slowing down.”

I nodded and undid my apron.

“Hey,” she rested her hand on my shoulder, “you okay?”

I didn’t react.

“Eren, come on, just talk – Sorry, just tell me. Is it about that Levi guy? I heard the others talking about him this morning.”

I pulled out a note.

<<He said he’d come back today>>

“Oh, I get it. No sign of him yet?”

I shook my head and Mikasa sighed. I could tell she wanted to say “I told you so.” I wrote out another note.

<<If he doesn’t come, I guess he’s just some guy>>

I stuck it to the register and went into the break room. Our employee break room was just past the sinks through a black swinging door. The café isn’t huge, so our room wasn’t much. A basic table with four chairs, a TV that didn’t get any cable, a coat rack, and some four-month-old magazines on the table. No expense spared. I sunk into one of the metal folding chairs at the table and took my phone out of my pocket. 11:04am. _Back out there at 11:19._ I thumbed through my home screen and opened my messages. Nothing. In my contacts, I found Levi’s number and tapped “Send a New Message.” I started to type all sorts of intros. “Hi,” “Good morning,” “Hello,” and anything else that wouldn’t come off as desperately obsessive. I deleted everything and sighed. _Forget it_ , I thought and put my head down.

Not five minutes later I heard the door swing open.

“Uh, Eren?”

Marco and his freckles were smiling at me. He had this way to just make everything seem okay when he smiled. I actually don’t think I’ve ever seen him angry now that I think about it.

“You okay?”

I nodded and rested my chin on the table. He sat down across from me and rubbed his hands together. “Now don’t laugh at me, I just learned this the other day and I’m really new at it, okay?” I raised my eyebrow at him. I half-expected some sort of magic trick. I watched as he hesitantly signed, “How are you?” When he was done, he put his hands back onto the table and grinned proudly.

I perked up and slowly and deliberately signed back, “I’m okay. Thanks.”

“You said that you’re okay, right?”

I gave him a thumbs-up. He flashed another smile. “You know, whether you have a crush on him or not, it’s a good thing you have someone to sign with and talk to without having to write it all down.” I felt him rest his hand on my shoulder. In purple ink, I scratched out a message on a post-it and stuck it to his forehead.

<<Thanks>>

“No problem. Oh, by the way,” he added, rising from his seat. He motioned for me to follow him. We walked through the door to the sinks and he pointed to table 16. There was a man in the middle of the café sitting nonchalantly at the table with his phone in one hand and his own jet-black bangs in the other. He was wearing skinny chinos, burgundy dress shoes, and a well-fitting blue button-down. He looked around the room and when his gaze landed on me he smiled. My face started turning red again. Marco said, “I think you know his order already.” He handed me a mocha latte and an already warmed blueberry scone and nudged me forward.

I took a deep breath and “confidently” strode over to Levi. Let’s be serious, I was dying inside. The fact that I could make it over to that table without trembling was nothing short of a miracle. When I made it there, I set his order down.

“What, no note?” he signed.

I pulled out my post-its and scribbled out a sentence. I stuck it to his hand and sped away.

<<It’s nice to see you again>>

“Eren!” Mikasa called out from the register. “Caramel macchiato, extra shot at 9!”

I snatched a clean mug from Connie at the sink and started concocting a new drink. I kept glancing over at Levi as he ate his scone. He did this thing where he would just break it off in small pieces and eat it bit by bit. Then when he went to take a sip of his coffee, he’d get some of the latte foam on his nose. He wiped it off quickly, but it sat there for a second and I wish I could just snap a picture of it.

“Watch it!” Historia gasped. She caught me just before I let the frothing milk fall to the ground. I flashed an apologetic smile and finished off the macchiato with caramel sauce. I detoured to pick up some dirty dishes, passing 16, and felt my note stick to my elbow. I dropped the drink off at 9 and snuck a look at the message. Same ink as yesterday.

[[Told you I’d be back. Don’t suppose you can sit with me?]]

I dropped off the dirty dishes to Connie. “That’s him, isn’t it?” he asked, powering through mugs and plates. I nodded. Before I could get a reply down on a new post-it for Levi, Historia zipped over to both of us with Marco on her heels.

“Hey, Connie, guess who’s here!” she squealed, pointing at the brunette that walked through the door, making her way to the pastry cases.

“Historia, don’t point at her!” Marco scolded. “Con’, you have to talk to her. You’re totally into her!”

Connie grumbled under his breath and turned pink. Marco and Historia huddled up on him and I backed away. I didn’t need to be a part of this. I looked over to 16 and caught Levi looking over at me. He smiled at me and my stomach flipped. Tables needed cleaning, so I wrote out a reply and stuck it to the empty plate on his table. I wiped down the two adjacent tables.

<<I wish. Another scone?>>

I hadn’t even finished cleaning off the first table when I saw a reply land next to my hand.

[[Any excuse to get you to come back is good for me]]

I felt my heart pounding in my throat. _Shit. He’s actually flirting with me?_ I thought. I sped back to the pastries and threw another scone in the oven. I thought about what to say next. _Do I flirt back? Do I ignore it?_ I’ve never flirted with anyone before. Mainly because, well, no one did it first. I felt someone behind me.

“What’d he say?” It was Marco. “Ooh! Flirtatious. You should totally flirt back.”

I looked over to Levi and he was thumbing through his phone, sipping his latte. No more foam on the nose though. I stole away from Marco and jotted down my reply with a smug grin on my face. Marco reached for the note and I pulled it away from him. I slid the scone from the oven onto a new plate and glided away from the prep station. I stuck the note to the bottom of the plate and placed it in front of Levi, replacing the empty one. Before he could look at me, I cleaned off another table well enough away to watch. He looked for the note on the table, then on his mug, then under the scone. I don’t think he realized how hot the scone was because he quickly dropped it back onto the plate and licked his fingers in pain. He looked over to me, puzzled. I tapped on the bottom of the dirty plate I was cleaning and smiled. He checked beneath his own and unstuck the note.

<<I can’t stay away if I tried>>

I heard him laugh softly, which caused me to follow suit. He looked back over to me and signed, “When do you get off?”

“Eren!” Mikasa’s voice echoed through the café. “Green tea and a soy latte at 19!”

I scurried back to the prep station and started the new order. As the tea brewed, I wrote a note for Connie.

<<Did you talk to Sasha?>>

When he saw the note, he turned light pink. “Yeah, she blew me off. For a brownie.” I bit my lip and went back to my drinks. Poor Connie. I looked back over at him as he furiously washed dishes, muttering under his breath about not listening to anyone’s advice again. I finished the soy latte as the steep timer went off for the green tea. I brought them out to 19 and stuck a new note on Levi’s table.

<<8\. You don’t have to stick around that long :( >>

Table 14 was a mess from a family, so I lingered as Levi wrote out a reply to my note. I gathered up the plates and wiped down spilled juice and coffee. I turned around and noticed that this time, Levi stuck it face-up on his table. I stacked all of the dishes onto each other and got it all in one hand. I passed by Levi’s table and put my hand on the note to keep it flat. _Huh?_

[[Gotcha.]]

I felt his hand grip my wrist. It wasn’t hard, but it was with purpose. I looked at him right in his gray eyes and he said through a half-smile, “I’m not going anywhere.” My face started heating up again. His voice. That velvet baritone. There was sincerity behind it. I instantly believed him and knew that I’d have another whole day with him. The prospect of this got me so excited that I felt the pile of dishes start to teeter. Levi reacted like lightning, helping me re-balance them on my arm. “Got it?” he signed.

I smiled and I half signed “Thank you” back before wheeling over to the sinks. Connie was extraordinarily concentrated on his dishes, so I didn’t bother him about Sasha.

“Hey, Eren,” Mikasa called over. “Just need an Americano for table 16.”

_Americano?_

Mikasa must’ve seen my puzzled look because she proceeded to point to the tall, blond man walking over to Levi’s table. He had a very intimidating presence. His steps were deliberate. I caught a glimpse of his face and he had these sharp blue eyes and chiseled features. He smiled at Levi and Levi smiled back. He stood up and gave the man a hug. Either this man was really tall, or Levi was really short, but my thoughts were interrupted by a searing pain.

_Shit!_

I felt boiling espresso hit my hand and the mug crashed to floor and shattered across the prep station. The entire café went silent as I was on my knees clutching my hand. If I could actually scream, they’d hear me across town. I could feel my skin blistering. It took Mikasa and Connie to get me over to the sink to wash off the espresso. I saw Levi get up and approach the counter. He tried to come behind, but Marco and Historia kept him back. Mikasa pulled me into the break room to get the burn kit out and I watched Levi’s face disappear behind the swinging black door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> <3


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't begin to say how thankful I am for all of your lovely comments <3 Thank you so much for your support for this fic! ^_^

Mikasa’s always been there to take care of me. Even when we were little and Dad left. Mom was fine with leaving both of us home alone together because she knew Mikasa would be able to handle everything. Then, when Mom died it was just the two of us. I wish I could help her out as much as she’s helped me and I really hope she knows that. She wiped off my hand with a cool, damp paper towel.

It was pulsing. _What the hell’s my problem?_

“Aren’t we supposed to keep it under running water?” Connie panicked.

“Relax,” Mikasa shot. “Just go back out there and keep running business as usual.” He nodded and went through the black doors. I could here him shooing people away from the counter. Mikasa reached into the first aid kit and pulled out the burn cream. It was cool and felt really nice. I tried to flex my hand and I could move my fingers, but it still hurt. Fucking hell. My signing was gonna suffer. It was my left hand, so my writing would be okay. But I didn’t want to write. Not to him. Not if I could help it.

“Okay, skin’s not broken, so I’m gonna wrap this up okay?” Mikasa explained. “Might hurt a bit.”

I nodded and sighed. She pulled out a piece of gauze and placed it over the burn and wrapped it up with an ace bandage to keep it in place. The burn went from the base of my thumb across the back of my hand. Every time she went around, it got tighter and I winced. Mikasa noticed and stopped wrapping and lightly held my hand.

“You’ve gotta be careful, Eren. I know you were watching Levi and the other guy he was with when you slipped.”

I looked away.

“I know you were, so don’t be like that. I’m not blaming you, I’m just looking out. Come here.” She wrapped her arms around me and squeezed me tight. I returned the hug. “You’re my only family and I love you, you know?”

I nodded into her shoulder. I pulled away and signed “I love you” with my right hand. She smiled. For the first time in awhile.

“I know that one,” she said through her grin. “Chill back here for now. It’s slowing down again out there so you don’t have the work the rest of your shift, ‘kay?”

I shook my head furiously. Like hell I was staying cooped up here away from everyone else. And what about Levi? He was literally on the other side of that door and I wanted to be out there. No way was I gonna sit by and do nothing and let him go. I stood up and started towards the door.

“Eren. Eren, wait.” She grabbed my healthy hand and stopped me. “Just sit down. I’ll be right back okay?”

She guided me to the break table and sat me down on the same metal chair as earlier. I glared at her as she gave me the “hang on” motion and went out into the café. I pushed around the magazines on the table. I’d read them over and over, so there was nothing to do with them. I pulled out my phone and check my notifications. Nothing. I realized that I never gave Levi _my_ number so checking for messages from him was pointless. _Do I text him?_ I thought. _Nah, he’s with that blond guy._ I decided to let him be. I wasn’t jealous or anything, I just didn’t expect to see someone else meeting up with him. They look like they’d known each other for awhile, so I’m _assuming_ old friends, but I barely know him. _Shit. I barely know Levi,_ I thought. What’m I doing making assumptions about him? What if that’s his actual boyfriend or something and he’s just being really friendly with me? Marco said he was being flirtatious. Maybe he’s cheating on him? _Oh man…what am I getting into?_ I needed to relax and I had to get out of there. I stood up and shoved my phone into my pocket. Tossing my undone apron onto the empty hooks by the black doors, I turned to go out the back. I took maybe five steps when I heard his voice.

“Going somewhere?”

My stomach flipped and I wheeled around.

“I know _he’s_ why you wanna keep working,” Mikasa said, unamused.  

I immediately looked to my beat-up black sneakers. _Oh my god, this is happening._

She continued. “He can stay back here with you. I had to practically peel him away from the counter, so I know he _wants_ to see you.”

I slowly looked up at him, scanning. His clothes fit so well and he was sharply dressed. I saw him sitting at his table with the foam on his nose, but now he was standing right in front of me and he looked so different. I felt my face getting hot. He was rubbing the back of his head and smiling softly at me. Was he embarrassed?

“I just wanted – ” he stopped speaking and started signing. “I just wanted to make sure you were okay.”

I signed back “I’m okay” as best as I could. He must’ve understood because he let out a sigh of relief and said, “Good.”

“I’m gonna go back out there before those three burn this whole _place_ down,” Mikasa said, excusing herself. She went through the doors and Levi and I were alone. Like alone alone. _Oh god_. I stood there silent. Well, I’m always silent. But I wasn’t moving. I don’t even think I could’ve if I’d wanted to.

“I hope that Erwin coming in didn’t make you burn yourself,” he began, verbally. _Erwin?_ I signed his name and asked who he was.

“He’s one of my friends and colleagues,” he continued in sign language. I motioned to the chairs for us to sit. We did. It’s like a replay of yesterday, except with actual physical pain. I started to ask about where he worked, obviously knowing that he worked at the university. But he didn’t know that I knew. I got through a sign and a half before he signed for me to stop.

“Let me just explain, okay?”

I nodded and he began, signing the whole time. I’m so glad he’s signing with me again. He started with him working at the university. He talked about how he works in the Foreign Languages and Linguistics department and that he’s on sabbatical. Stuff I already knew, but I had to pretend to look interested. I mean, I was interested, but I couldn’t let on that I knew anything. Then he started about how he knew Erwin and a little of his past. Turns out, he got his PhD abroad and that’s where he met Erwin. They worked together on each other’s dissertations and got close during their time in grad school. Apparently, Erwin is only in town for a bit because Levi is presenting his research at a symposium or something and they always go to each other’s presentations. _That’s a relief. Wait_.

“Is he still out there though?” I asked.

“No,” he answered. “He got a call and had to go. Try not to do to much signing, it’s hurting you.”

He’s right. It wasn’t bad, but still uncomfortable. _Whatever, I’ll get over it._ I just wanted to keep talking to him. He peered at me and said aloud, “You’re gonna sign anyway, aren’t you.” I flashed a grin and he rolled his eyes. “Suit yourself.”

He got quiet and brushed his hair out of his eyes. I heard his phone vibrate and he checked it out. Meanwhile, I played with my bandage. _What now? Did he have to go? Was our time up?_

“Hm,” I heard him grunt. I looked over at him. He put his phone away and stood up. Straightening out his shirt and pants, he said aloud, “So, looks like you have the rest of the day to yourself.” He looked over to me. “And now, so do I.” He offered me his hand. “Care to take a walk?”

***

“How’d you convince Mikasa to let me go with you?” I asked once we left the café. He had told me to go ahead while he talked to her. I could tell by the looks she was giving him and shooting at me that she was definitely _not_ happy with this prospect. Levi shrugged.

“Don’t worry about it,” he signed, flashing a smile.

We strolled up the street in the opposite direction from home. It was beautiful out and the light breeze felt great. I hadn’t gotten a real day off in weeks, so maybe getting burned wasn’t a bad thing at all. And walking next to me was Levi. Hands back in his pockets, the breeze blew his bangs all over and swept beneath his undercut. He closed his eyes for a minute and I watched him take a deep breath. _He so calm._ I lightly tapped his shoulder.

“Where are we going?”

He chuckled. “Somewhere.” _Why’s he being so mysterious?_

“Are you luring me to my death?”

He laughed louder and said aloud, “No, no. Trust me, it’s nothing like that. I just wanna get to know you a bit.” He stopped walking and turned to me. He looked right into my eyes. “Is that a problem?”

I shook my head and signed, “I wanna know you better, too.” I felt a twinge in my left hand.

“Good. Hungry?” I nodded. “Then let’s get something to eat first.”

We had stopped walking in front of a silver, two-door coupe. Levi pulled out his keys, unlocked it, and ushered me into the passenger’s seat. Of course, I obliged. _This is a_ nice _car._ He shut the door and I ogled everything. Still had that new car smell. Really fancy. I saw the Lexus logo on the steering wheel. _Oh, shit._ Levi got into the car, started it up, and put the windows down. He turned and looked at me again. “Ready?”

I nodded and we pulled out of the parking space, driving down the road away from the café. I looked behind and could see the shop get smaller and smaller. I wrung my hands, accidentally squeezing my left one too hard. I winced and Levi noticed. “Will you relax?” he said, coming to a stop at a light. I looked over to him and found him looking back at me. I gulped. What? I was nervous. This was new territory for me. He put his hand on my shoulder and said, “I’m not gonna let anything bad happen to you. I promise.” I finally took a deep breath and exhaled. I felt a little calmer and we continued on our way. I watched Levi driving and he looked like a rock star. He drove with one hand on the top of the wheel and his other hand dangled out of his window. The wind delicately blew through his hair and the sun illuminated his already light skin. He glanced over to me and I immediately looked straight ahead, hands between my legs.

“You know, you have really nice eyes.”

My face started to burn. I signed a quick “Thank you” and quickly added, “So do you.”

I looked out of my window and watched the stores and restaurants pass. Soon, I noticed signs for the university. Visiting scholar housing and research facilities. _Where_ is _this place?_ Levi turned onto another street and we found ourselves on University Boulevard. This was the main stretch of campus that ran for over a mile. It was lined with residence and dining halls, colleges, offices, and restaurants and right now, it was buzzing. Levi pulled into a faculty parking lot and into an empty space.

“Alright, let’s get some food.”

***

The pizzeria we walked into was busy as hell. It was one of those brick oven places that had the oven right behind the register where you ordered. It smelled amazing – dough, tomatoes, and all those pizza spices got my mouth watering. I felt my stomach roar. Luckily it was a bit noisy in there because, man, it was a rumble.

“You like pizza, right?” he signed. Good thing, too, because I wouldn’t’ve heard him. I nodded. Who doesn’t like pizza?

“This place is my favorite. They pretty much know me by – ”

“Dr. Levi!” the cashier called out, bright and bubbly. He threw me a look that said, “See?” He approached the counter and beckoned me to follow.

“Hi, Petra,” he said calmly, returning a delicate smile. “How’re you doing today?”

“I’m good, how about you? How’s your research going?”

“It’s interesting. I’m presenting at a symposium in a few days – you’re taking syntax this semester, right?” She nodded. “You and your class should come by. It’ll be of interest to you guys. Oh, I’m sorry – Petra, this is my friend Eren.” He turned to me. “Eren, this is Petra. She’s a graduate student in linguistics.”

Petra chimed in. “Dr. Levi’s the best professor at the university. Sucks that he’s on sabbatical though. So, how do you know him, Eren?”

I shot Levi a panicked look.

“Did I say something wrong?” she asked. I shook my head no and scratched my head. Was he trying to put me on the spot? I patted down my pockets to find my notes when Levi said, “You left them at the café, remember?” _Oh shit._ “Just ask her if she signs,” he urged under his breath. “You’re allowed to ask people, you know.”

He’s right. I never really got to before.

I signed “Do you sign?” to Petra. She smiled at me and signed back, “Yes!” Relief. I didn’t need my notes. She asked again, “So how _do_ you know him?”

“I work at the café on Shiganshina Ave. Levi came in yesterday and started signing with me.” I flashed a smile in his direction, but he was engrossed with the chalkboard menu.

“Oh, so you’re _new_ friends!” she replied. “Dr. Levi’s great, you know the research he’s doing now is on the syntax of sign languages. And he’s part of the sign language program at the university with Dr. Zoe.”

“I’ll take it from here, Petra,” Levi interrupted. “We’ll have my usual pie. And for here.”

She smiled at him. “You got it! It’ll be up in about ten. Nice seeing you again!”

“You, too, Petra. Good luck in your classes.”

Levi led me to a table in the corner of the restaurant, right next to the window facing University Boulevard. We sat across from each other and I felt my stomach rumble again. I saw Levi’s brow go up. _Shit, did he hear that?_

“Well, sounds like someone’s hungry,” he signed.

My face warmed up and turned pink.

“It’ll be worth it,” he continued. “Look’s like Petra took a liking to you.”

“I guess.”

Levi scanned me. “Are you okay? Is your hand alright?”

I shrugged.

“You can tell me, you know.”

My hand was perfectly fine now. Though, something that Petra said was bugging me, but I didn’t want to tell Levi. We’re new friends. I literally met him yesterday. I haven’t known him for more than a day and here we are having lunch together. _All I know about him is that he works at the university._ I didn’t know where he lived, where he’s from, or anything personal. I suddenly started feeling a bit anxious. If I needed to get back to the café or home there was no way to do it on my own. I had my wallet with me, but no cash for a bus or anything. I could hop the shuttle that swings around our place, I guess…

“Eren?” he said aloud, interrupting my slight panic.

I took a deep breath. “I just realized that I barely know you.”

Levi ran his hands through his undercut and scratched at the back of his neck. He let out a sigh and said out loud. “I know. And if at any time you want to go back home or to the café, you just tell me, okay?”

My nod was barely perceptible.

“I just,” he continued, “I just wanted to get to know you is all.”

“It’s not because I’m mute?” I asked.

“Of course not,” he explained through a laugh. “I started passing notes with you before you told me, remember?”

I shrugged again.

“Eren. I think you’re great. And you need to calm down, because I see our pizza coming out of the oven and I literally cannot wait to see you eat this.” He took some napkins and wiped down the table of any crumbs and debris as Petra came by with our lunch and a couple plates.

“Here you go, boys!” She looked at Levi. “I-I mean, sir. Oh,” she pulled a fork and knife out of her apron. “For you,” she said, placing the utensils in front of Levi. “Enjoy!” she chirped before sauntering back to her station behind the register. I took a look at the pizza that was presented to us. It smelled amazing.

“It’s their classic margherita. I could literally drink the tomato sauce on here,” he said as he slid a slice onto his plate. He brushed the excess flour off of his hands and I watched as he precariously used his fork and knife to cut pieces of the slice. _Is he serious?_ He cleanly separated a small piece and ate it with his fork, careful not to leave any cheese dangling or sauce dripping. Regardless of _how_ he ate it, I could tell that he loved it because a satisfied grin formed on his face with a deep “Mmmm.” Meanwhile, I grabbed a slice and bit a chunk off, folding it in two. And good god was it delicious. I must’ve made some type of face, because I saw Levi laugh at me.

I put my slice down for a second and asked him, “Why do you eat it like that?”

“Hm?” His mouth was full with another cut piece.

“You eat your pizza with a fork and knife?”

“Yeah, so?” he signed back.

“It’s weird.”

“Says the guy who has cheese and sauce on his chin.”

I quickly wiped it away. “Pick it up and take a bite.”

He raised his eyebrow at me. “How about no. It’s messy and annoying.” He cut another piece.

“Pick it up and eat it or I go home now.” I crossed my arms and sat back in my chair with a smug smile on my face. _That oughta do it._

Levi sighed and dropped his utensils onto his plate. “This is once and once only. And because I want to spend time with you.” I watched as he stared at the slice trying to figure out the best way to pick it up. I got his attention again and showed him how I eat it. He followed suit. When he bit into the slice, he got a nice big chunk of cheese that stretched as he pulled away. It snapped and swung into his chin. I laughed to myself because I could see how much he hated the thought of getting messy. _Well, at least he didn’t get it on his shirt._ He peeled it off his chin and put it in his mouth. “There,” he said, pulling napkins from the dispenser. “Happy?” I nodded and decided to make it my project to teach Levi to eat his pizza the right way.

As we ate, we opened up a bit. I told him about how me, Mikasa, and Armin all live together because we really don’t have anyone but each other. Went through growing up with my Mom and Dad and how Dad left and Mom died a couple years ago. I could tell he felt bad but I didn’t really want much sympathy for it. As for him, he grew up a couple towns over with his uncle Kenny. I got the feeling that they didn’t really get along, but he learned a lot from him. He pushed himself through high school and had a tough time since he’s a bit on the short side, so he focused on his schoolwork. He got a scholarship to the university here in town and went on to get his doctorate a couple years ago. Okay, so we opened up more than a bit. But now, I felt better about him. I knew stuff about Levi and it was comforting. Maybe we really are friends.

As we were finishing up, a text message came through on his phone.

“Hm,” he swallowed the last of his slice, “Perfect timing. Change of plans. Someone wants to meet you.”

“Where are we going?” I asked.

He pulled out his wallet and said, “To my department, of course.”

***

The Foreign Languages and Linguistics department was on the third floor of the College of Arts and Sciences building, which sat right next to the pizzeria. _No wonder they know him so well there._ The faculty offices were in a hallway adorned with posters advertising events within the department – student presentations, foreign movie showings, clubs, you name it. Levi’s office was number 3104 - he had a sign on the door and everything.

“Fancy,” I signed.

“It’s really not much,” he shrugged, opening the door. Inside, a brown-haired woman with glasses sat at the desk playing with the knick-knacks on Levi’s desk. Behind her was the imposing blond man from the café. Erwin, I think.

“How many times have I told you not to come into my office without me?” Levi grumbled.

“What, you afraid I’m gonna make it too much of a mess?” the woman said, poking fun at him. I could tell Levi was annoyed. “You’re such an idiot,” he muttered, taking a seat on an armchair facing the desk. I remained in the doorway.

“Is this him?” she asked, rising. The other man looked over at me, not saying a word. I shifted uncomfortably.

“Yup,” Levi said. “Eren, this is Dr. Hanji Zoe. And this statue of a man is Dr. Erwin Smith, who you saw earlier.”

“Nice to meet you,” I signed.

“Hanji has a proposition for you,” Levi explained.

I was curious. _What could she possibly want from me?_

Hanji came around from behind the desk and stood a couple inches from me. She didn’t seem to consider personal space an issue. “Eren, I’m the director of the sign language program here,” she began. “We study the development of sign languages, their structure, and how they’re learned. We even teach sign language as a foreign language.”

“That’s pretty cool,” I said.

“It is. Now, there are a lot of people who sign, but more often than not, they’re hearing impaired or completely deaf. It’s not common for us to meet someone who’s able to hear perfectly.”

_Where’s she going with this?_

“How would you like to work with us part-time as a sign language tutor and research assistant?”

“Are you serious?” I asked, shocked. “I thought this kind of stuff was for grad students or something. I’m not even a student.”

“It normally is,” Hanji explained. “But, there’s no one in the department with your particular skill set. It’s very easy to communicate with you and you’d be a valuable asset to our research.”

I thought about it for a second. _Doesn’t sound too bad, actually._ “Who would I be working with?”

Levi stood up, calm as ever. “Me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> <3


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You guys are amazing for the support and love for this :)

“They offered you a _job_?” Armin practically shrieked as he paced laps around the coffee table. I sat in my chair, white board and marker at the ready. I couldn’t tell if he was excited or what. Mikasa sat on her side of the couch thumbing through her phone. I could see her fluttering in and out of sleep. It was about 11pm and she’d been up before I was. “Are you okay with this Mikasa?” he added. “Mikasa?”

“Hm? Yeah, what? I’m awake. What’re we talking about?” She looked over at me as I wrote.

<<Levi and Dr. Zoe offered me a job at the university>>

“Doing?”

I erased and rewrote. This is getting more and more annoying.

<<Research assistant and sign language tutor>>

“What’s the pay like?” Armin interrupted. “Are you gonna leave the coffee shop?” He stopped pacing and sat in his seat, putting his feet up on the table. Mikasa swatted them off.

<<We didn’t work that out yet. And of course not>>

“I don’t know,” Mikasa began. “It’s probably good for you to be around people who can sign. And you’d be helping them out. But, I don’t know if I’m comfortable with you just going to the university and being on your own like that. What if something happens to you?”

I shrugged.

“Did they say _when_ you’d have to be there?”

<<Not yet. But I told them I’d do it already>>

Mikasa threw her hands up and rose from her seat, fully awake now. She never liked it when I made decisions without consulting her and this one was pretty big. “How could you just accept it like that? You know, I just – we just _talked_ about this earlier. Being careful? Does that ring a bell at all?”

“How is this not being careful?” Armin snapped. “It’s a university job, Mikasa. Really. Anyone would _kill_ for that.” His voice softened. “I know I would.”

<<You should meet them. You’d get along with Dr. Zoe>>

“You think?”

I nodded. <<You’re both so smart and she’s weird>>

“Guys, back to my point!” Mikasa seethed. “I get that you can go together. And that’s great. But what about coming home? And in between? What about the café? I can’t run that shit on my own.” She sighed. “You know what? Forget it. I’m fucking exhausted and don’t feel like dealing with this right now.” Moving to the stairs, she added, “Listen, the three of us are all off tomorrow and we can keep talking about this, okay? Good night.” With that, she disappeared up the stairs.

“Good night,” Armin replied as I waved. “She’s got the right idea,” he said through a yawn. “I’m so excited about this job you got.” He opened his arms for a hug. I slid right into them and gave him a squeeze. I felt him exhale into my shoulder and it was nice. Armin really is my best friend and I couldn’t ask for anyone better.

***

In bed, I tossed and turned under the blankets. Tonight was no different than any other – still no voice coming out. But I wasn’t as bummed about it. _Maybe it’s because I have people to sign with now?_ I thought. Maybe. I checked my phone every few minutes, calculating how much sleep I’d get if I fell asleep right then and there, which, of course, just kept me up. Stupid. I started thinking about the day I had. I never thought something like that would’ve happened. And I don’t even mean the job offer. That was great, don’t get me wrong, but I got to spend the day with someone new. Someone who seemed to care about me and wanted to get to know _me_. I mean, it wasn’t a date or anything – and I really don’t see that coming – but, it was really, _really_ nice.

After the impromptu meeting in Levi’s office, Erwin and Dr. Zoe left us alone…

_The door shut behind Dr. Zoe just after she winked at Levi. He disregarded it and told her “Get lost, four-eyes.” I couldn’t help but crack a stupid grin._

_“She’s smart as hell, but still an idiot,” he said, rearranging his desk ornaments back to where they started. Some of the adjustments were barely noticeable. After a couple of minutes of fiddling with the frames and paperweights, he took a seat and rested his chin on intertwined fingers. Suddenly, he looked like a professional. A really handsome professional. I could feel my hands sweating a bit, even under the bandage. It felt gross._

_“So,” he continued in sign, “you excited to work with me?”_

_I had no idea what to say. I mean, hell yeah I was. I’d get to spend more time with Levi. But this was completely uncharted territory. What if I fucked up?_

_I took a deep breath and signed, “What if I mess up?”_

_He smiled and rose from his seat. A couple of long strides brought him to the front of his desk. He leaned against it and said, “Up.” I obliged and got closer to him – at his request of course. I stopped about a foot away mainly because my heart was_ pounding _and I was sure he’d be able to hear it._

_“Stand up straight.”_

_I adjusted my shitty posture._

_“Look at me.”_

_I moved my gaze from my sneakers to his eyes. It was like looking at knives. But the thing is, as sharp as they were, they were so calm and controlled. Like, you knew not to piss him off._

_“Eren, I’ve known you for less than one day and in that time, I’ve learned a lot about you, and you about me. Agreed?”_

_I nodded._

_“Now, I’m not an expert on you, just like you’re not an expert on me,_ but _I know that you’re extremely dedicated. And you get shit done. You can’t speak. You can sign, but no one you knew before yesterday could sign with you. And yet, you’ve managed to communicate with everyone around you. You hold down a part-time job. And in just a day, I’ve seen you become more confident with your signing.”_

_My face was getting warm. I wrung my right hand, making sure not to put pressure on the left. I couldn’t believe that I was hearing these words from Levi. Had I really made that much of an impression on him?_

_“I consider you my friend, Eren. Do you feel the same about me?”_

Maybe more than a friend, _I thought. I signed, “Yes,” keeping the thought contained._

_He pushed off the desk and stood up straight right in front of me. He was about a head shorter than me, but the way he held himself made it seem like he towered over me. Not in an intimidating way or anything, but still._

_“I’m not gonna let anything,” he pushed his index finger into my chest, “happen to you. Okay?”_

_I nodded again._

_“Okay,” he said through a sigh. “Wanna get out of here?”_

_“Yes, please,” I signed with a sheepish smile._

I sat up in bed and swung my legs over the side of the bed. I couldn’t sleep at all. Something about Levi calling me his friend kept ringing in my head. _I consider you my friend, Eren._ We’re friends. Friends. What about those flirtatious notes in the café? And the cute things he did when he said he wanted to make sure I was okay? Was he attracted to me at all? _Wait, wait, wait._ _Do I_ want _him to be attracted to me?_ _To like me?_ I was confused. _What the hell’s going on with me?_ Whenever I saw him or thought about him, my heart started to beat a bit faster. I can feel my hands start to get sweaty and almost anything he does makes me turn pink or red. But, at the same time, I was calm when I was with him. It’s like, everything’s racing a mile a minute but I’m totally at ease. Not like totally at peace and tranquil, but it was a type of calm. I don’t know. It’s weird. _Shit_ , I thought. _I have really_ do _have a crush on him._ But could you blame me? We practically flirted from day one. Which was yesterday. Ugh. I threw myself back onto my bed and closed my eyes for a second. I remember walking out of his office and walking through the department…

_“So what exactly are you working on?” I signed. We were back into full-blown signing._

_“You really wanna know? It’s a bit technical.”_

_I nodded. “If I’m going to work with you, I wanna know what you’re doing.”_

_“Fair enough. Follow me.” He picked up the pace and strolled ahead of me. We walked away from the offices and down a stairwell to the second floor. This hallway was really modern and flat screens lined the walls, shuffling through university announcements and campus events. Upstairs was nice and sleek, but this was super techy. We strode down the hall, with Levi about five steps ahead of me. Yeah, he was short, but, Christ, could he move quickly. He pulled out his wallet and removed his university ID. Stopping in front of a room, he swiped his ID and punched in a code, unlocking the door._

_“Come on, slowpoke,” he said, holding the door open for me. I jogged up to the door and took it from him. We walked in and I shut it behind me. We were in a computer lab. Circular tables dotted the room, each with four big Macs. Levi was logging into the machine at the front of the room. “Do you mind if I speak aloud for this?”_

_I shook my head. Whatever was easier for him._

_“Okay,” he began. “I study sign language. Obviously. You knew that. Remember how Petra said I was studying syntax?”_

_“Yeah, what’s that exactly?” I signed._

_“Syntax, in general, is the study of how sentences and phrases are put together or structured. Now, blah blah blah there’s theory and counterarguments and all that crap, but I’m not going to bore you with that shit. What I_ will _tell you is that sign language is its own unique language. It’s not a symbolic representation of English, Spanish, Japanese, or any other language. It’s unique to itself. It has signs that are representative of things in the real world and these signs can be arranged into an infinite combination of sentences and phrases. You know this because you experience it as you use it, right?”_

_I nodded._

_“Now, yeah, I’m studying the syntax of sign language and that’s what I tell people. But there’s a second aspect to this that only Hanji, Erwin, and the department chair know.” He turned on the projector and opened up an application. The camera on the monitor turned on and I saw the empty desk chair and the white board. Beneath the camera view was an empty space. “Now, I’m taking care of the theoretical parts of all of this. See, Hanji didn’t go into_ her _specialties. One of her many areas of expertise is something called computational linguistics. That’s the interface of language and technology. Natural language processing. Cutting-edge shit. We’re working together to create this.” He gestured to the projector. “Watch.”_

_He sat down in front of the computer, now appearing in the camera view onscreen. He clicked a start button at the top of the window, making a red light appear next to it. Deliberately, he signed, “Good morning.” In the blank space beneath the camera’s view, the text “GOOD MORNING” appeared. My face lit up. Holy shit._

_“That’s awesome!” I signed._

_“Just wait,” he said, clicking through a menu. He switched one of the options from translate to converse. He hit the start button again and signed, “How are you?” In the space beneath the camera view, the words “GOOD, THANK YOU” appeared._

This is insane, _I thought._

_“What do you think?” he asked._

_“It’s so cool! Why’re you developing this?”_

_“Well, it’ll give signers more accessibility to typically voice command applications and features. Imagine a computer that can pick up your signs from across the room and restarting for you, or playing a song for you. Asking your phone for directions or texting someone using sign language. It’s still really embryonic, but I’m going to be showing this next week at the symposium. It’s more about showing them that this can be done and that the computer can generate a response to signs. But you_ have _to keep this quiet. Not even Armin and Mikasa, okay?”_

_“Understood.”_

My phone buzzed, pulling me right out of my memory. _Who’s texting me?_ It was after midnight at this point and I just wanted to get to sleep. _Armin?_

Armin [12:24am]: come to my room, I wanna talk to you about something

I grabbed my phone and made my way out of my room and into the little hallway. The house wasn’t huge, obviously – when you got to the top of the stairs, my room was on the left, Mikasa’s straight ahead, and Armin’s to the right. I inched across the way making sure to avoid the squeaky patches and not wake Mikasa. I stopped at Armin’s closed door and adjusted my falling pajama pants before knocking. I heard shuffling before the door creaked open and Armin hurried me in. His desk light was the only light on in the room, casting a yellow glow across the cream colored walls. He sat at the head of the bed and patted the spot across from him for me to join him. I unlocked my phone and typed out a message. There’s no way he’d be able to see a post-it in this lighting.

<<What’s going on?>>

He took a deep breath and started. “I was thinking about how you got that job offer and, well, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t jealous a bit.” I began another message, but he cut me off. “Hang on. It’s just…okay,” he took another breath, “if you’re going to work with them, you should try and take classes and stuff.”

<<Why?>>

“Because you’re kinda in with the professors. Why not try and – and do something with that? You totally don’t have to, but…I don’t know. It’s stupid. I should’ve just kept my mouth shut.”

<<No, it’s okay. I thought about it, too>>

“You did?”

I nodded. I didn’t ask them about it or anything, but I never thought I’d get into college with my grades in school. I didn’t even apply anywhere. They weren’t too thrilled that I didn’t even try, but I didn’t really care about it. We had the jobs at the café, so what was wrong with keeping that?

<I didn’t ask them or anything, but it’d be okay, I guess>>

“Okay.” He put his hand on my knee. “I just wanna see you happy, okay?”

I smiled.

“And you’ve been happier recently. Really, _really_ recently.” I could tell where he was going with this. His tone was getting to that I-know-something level and, on that note, I stood up. I quickly typed up a  <<Good night>> and moved to the door.

“Before you go, just one thing?”

I wheeled around and shot him a skeptical look.

“Do you like him?”

I crossed my arms and sighed, looking down at my bare feet. _Hm._ I got an idea. I looked back at Armin and signed, “I totally have a major crush on him.”

Armin’s face contorted as he tried to decipher what I had said. “I don’t know – ” I waved goodbye and sauntered out of the room, quite proud of myself.

Back in my bed, I stared at the ceiling, kinda relieved that I said it “out loud.” I mean, Armin had no clue what I was saying, but still. I felt better. But the question still loomed over my head: _Does he like me back?_ I kept recounting the day over and over. Every word, every movement, every glance. I felt like there was something that he did or said that would tell me. _I just need to relax. Relax…._ It took a while, but eventually I finally fell asleep, but not after replaying the day about a thousand times.

***

Sunday came and went like every other Sunday before it, and we didn’t talk about my new job. At all. The three of us always had Sundays off from the coffee shop, so that was our day to get shit done around the house. I could tell Mikasa still wasn’t happy about the whole job thing with Levi. I didn’t know what to tell her – it’s my choice. My life. For fuck’s sake, get over it. We barely said anything to each other. After breakfast she went out to do the grocery shopping. I was going to offer to go with her, but she was in one of her moods and just blazed out the door without a word. I felt bad. I really did. She’s my sister, biologically or not, and disappointing her is just awful, but at some point, she’d have to get past it.

That night, I got a text from Levi. I hadn’t texted him at all. I mean, I gave him my number before he dropped me off yesterday, but I wasn’t texting first. What was I, desperate? Maybe. But he didn’t need to know that.

Levi [9:18pm]: Hey

I turned red and my stomach flipped.

Me [9:19pm]: Hi there

Levi [9:21pm]: Are you working tomorrow?

Me [9:22pm]: Closing. 4-10. Why?

Levi [9:24pm]: I need your help with something. I’ll pick you up around 9 and we’ll go to the university, okay?

 _What about Armin?_ I thought. I rose from my chair and leapt up the stairs to his room. The door was opened. A light knock got his attention away from his laptop and the paper that was coming along on the screen.

“What’s up?” he asked.

I found a piece of scrap paper on his desk and scribbled out a message.

<<Wanna ride to school with me and Levi? He’s coming at 9>>

I had a huge grin plastered across my face. Armin noticed and giggled. “Yeah, that’d be nice.” I turned my attention back to my phone as I walked out of the room. Before I could type out my next message to Levi, Armin got my attention again.

“It’ll be nice to meet the guy who’s got you all hot and bothered.”

I ignored him and shut the door behind me.

Me [9:30pm]: Sure. Can Armin come? He has class and could use the ride.

Levi [9:31pm]: Fine by me. See you then

Levi [9:31pm]: Cutie

 _Oh my GOD._ What was I supposed to do? I didn’t know whether to say something flirty back or whatnot. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t seem interested. And if I did, I’d seem interested. _WHAT DO I DO?_ I stared at my phone for what seemed like years.

Me [9:35pm]: You’re the one who’s cute

I stared at my phone as it said delivered. _Please read it, please read it, oh my god don’t read it, don’t read it. Fuck, he read it._ The bubble that meant he’s typing showed up and my heart was going to explode I swear to god.

“What’re you doing?” Mikasa said, poking her head out of her room. I realized that I was standing in the middle of the hallway. I jumped and shook my hands and head before scurrying into my room, shutting the door behind me. _That was close._

Levi [9:37pm]: This is familiar, huh? ;)

Me [9:38pm]: Lol yeah :)

Levi [9:40pm]: You know, I’m glad I’m seeing you more now

Me [9:41pm]: Me too

He stopped replying. I didn’t know what to say anyway. Every ten minutes or so, I’d type up a reply but erase it because it was dumb. I wanted to keep texting him. I flopped onto my bed and glanced over at the small pile of books on my bedside table and remembered the sign language book in the bookstore window.

Me [10:13pm]: How can I teach my friends to sign?

Levi [10:16pm]: Hm. We’ll talk about it tomorrow, okay?

Me [10:17pm]: Okay :)

“Eren?” Mikasa called as she inched the door open. I exhaled forcefully right into my pillow. I really didn’t want to deal with her. I just kept my face buried, but I heard her walking over to my bed. She sat on the far end and rested her hand on my ankle. Her hands were always cold. A chill ran right up my leg and through my spine. “I’m sorry,” she breathed. I shifted so that I could hear her better.

“I – I overreacted. It’s a good thing you’re finding new people. I just – ” she sighed, “I don’t know. Can I see your face, please?”

I reluctantly pushed myself up and flipped over. I reclined onto my pillows and hugged my knees. She scooted closer to me and put her hand on my shoulder.

“Eren, I love you and I just want to know that you’re okay and that your safe. I know that I’m not mom so I shouldn’t act that way, but,” she choked up, “you’re the only family I’ve got left and I’ll be damned if I lose you to anything. You used to write when we were little that you have to fight. Because if you don’t fight, you can’t win. And you’re fighting now, and I want you to win. Okay?”

I wiped a tear from her cheek and I felt my eyes welling up. _Goddammit_. I sniffed hard and looked up to keep the tears in. She threw her arms around me and squeezed me tight. I returned the hug and gave her a peck on the cheek. She’s my sister and no matter how shitty things get, she’ll always have my back.

***

My phone buzzed just before I dozed off.

Levi [12:17am]: Good night, Eren. Sweet dreams

Me [12:19am]: You too, Levi

***

“I’ve never seen either of you get ready this quickly. Especially you, Eren,” Mikasa said through skeptical eyes. She took her bowl of cereal from the coffee table and started eating as me and Armin sat on the couch waiting for Levi to pick us up. I grabbed my white board.

<<How do I look? University-ready?>>

“You look fine, don’t worry,” Armin reassured me through a smile. I glanced down at my outfit. It wasn’t anything special. A white button down shirt and some dark jeans with my same black beat-up sneakers. This was the nicest dressed since Mom’s funeral and even that was an ordeal. I didn’t have a wide variety of clothes – mostly just t-shirts and shit. It’s stuff I could get dirty at the coffee shop. There wasn’t any need for anything else up until now. And it was weird wearing a button down like this. My phone buzzed.

Levi [8:58am]: Let’s go

I checked out the window and saw the silver Lexus parked in front of our place. A gentle tap on Armin’s shoulder told him that it was time to go. I walked over to Mikasa and gave her an awkward side-hug as she continued to eat. “Mmph, have a good day,” she said through a mouthful of Cheerios. “See you later,” she added just as we closed the door behind us. I stopped dead in my tracks when I saw Levi leaning nonchalantly up against his car. He was wearing a dark red shirt and a black tie with dress pants. Everything was so well fitting and it’s like he was a model on set. _Good lord._ My face got warm again. I kept watching as Levi opened the passenger’s side door and slid the front seat forward for Armin to climb in. He glanced back over to me, still standing in the same spot like an idiot, and signed, “Are you coming?” I snapped out of my ogling and jogged up to the car and took a seat. Levi shut the door and quickly got back in the driver’s seat.

“Hi, Armin. It’s good to meet you,” he said in his velvety baritone as he twisted in his seat to see Armin in the back. “I’ve heard good things about you from Eren, here.”

“You, too!” Armin replied cheerfully. “I’ve heard a lot about you, too, actually.”

“Oh?” Levi glanced in my direction as I sunk lower into my seat. _This was a mistake._

“Nothing bad, don’t worry,” Armin added.

Levi let out a chuckle and returned to his driving position. “Let’s get going.” He pulled out of the space and we rode towards the university.

“So, Armin,” Levi began again, “what classes do you have today?”

“Oh! Uh, the first one is Comparative Lit II and that’s in Sina Hall. And then I have my East Asian Literature class. Easy Monday.” I saw him fidgeting with his bag in the back seat.

“Interesting. What year are you?”

We turned onto the stretch of road that passes the café.

“I’m a sophomore.”

“Oh that’s right. Eren told me that already. Have you thought about a linguistics minor?”

I shot Levi a look and signed, “This isn’t a recruitment.”

He shrugged. “We’re always looking for the best and brightest to be in our program. Sue me.”

“Well,” Armin said, “I don’t really know. I just like the reading and analyzing books and texts from a literature perspective. I don’t know how I’d do with the more scientific approach to language itself.” He looked down at his feet and grew quieter. I could tell he was getting uncomfortable. I rested my hand on Levi’s arm to try and get him to stop. He looked over at me and barely nodded.

“Well if you ever want more info, just let me know, okay?”

“Mhm,” I heard from the back.

We pulled onto University Boulevard and turned into the faculty parking lot and a space. We got out of the car, but before any of us started walking, Levi spoke again.

“Armin?”

“Yeah?”

“If you get a chance, send me a paper you’ve written. I could use your brain for something, okay?”

I saw him brighten up. “R-Really?”

“Yeah. Just drop it by my office. Eren knows where it is.”

Armin ran his hand through his blond hair and scratched the back of his neck. “O-Okay! I’ll pick one out later and come by!” He turned and walked towards a huge red brick building with a clock tower, which I assumed was Sina Hall. “See you later!” I waved for a second before realizing that Levi was already on his way over to the Arts and Sciences building. I jogged to catch up with him and kept my paces brisk, remembering how quickly he moved the other day.

“You look good all dressed up like that,” he said as he stole a glance in my direction. I felt the blood rushing to my face. Again. “And that white shirt makes you look tan as hell.” We walked into the building and went into the stairwell up to the third floor. I signed, “You look really good, too. Like a model.” The corners of his mouth twitched upward right before we started up the stairs. When we got to the landing between floors, Levi turned and pinned me against the wall. One of his hands was on my shoulder, keeping me down, and the other was on my waist. His hip pressed against my thigh. _What’s happening. Oh shit, what’s happening._ I did all I could to keep my breathing steady. Our height difference was noticeable, but his hand snaked from my shoulder up behind my neck, guiding my head lower. His face was less than an inch from mine and his eyes were looking deep into my being. I felt his breath on my face as he whispered, “Those eyes…” He slowly closed the gap between his lips and mine. _This is happening. Oh, god, this is happening._ The doors at the top of the stairs opened, just before we made contact. Levi instantly broke away and continued up the stairs while I was still frozen against the wall. “Come on, you brat,” he said through a mischievous grin. I shook off the shock and met Levi at the top of the stairs. I heard the door to the third floor click shut. _Dammit they weren’t even coming downstairs…_

We made it up to the third floor and strolled through the hallway, past the posters and announcements and turned, making our way to the faculty offices again. _Why’d we have to be interrupted? Ugh._ My pulse was slowly but steadily returning to normal and I could feel my face cooling off. As we approached his office, I saw someone standing there, waiting. _Who’s that?_ He was about my height from what I could tell and he had light brown hair with the sides shaved and dark. He noticed the two of us coming and waved. Levi waved back and signed, “Hello” to him. _Huh?_

“Good morning,” he signed back. “I have those articles you asked me for.” The guy looked over and scanned me as he reached into the bag slung over his shoulder. “Who’s this?” he signed before digging.

“Jean, this is Eren. He’s gonna be helping me out with my research a bit.”

“Nice to meet you,” I signed before extending my hand. Jean looked at it and ignored me. He gave a folder to Levi.

“Thanks,” Levi replied taking it. He began to thumb through the articles inside when Jean added, “Let me know if you need anything else, sir,” before taking off past the two of us, and disappearing down another hallway.

Levi unlocked his office and let me go in first. When he closed the door, he said aloud, “Sorry about that. Jean’s not receptive to new people.” He tossed the folder onto his desk and leaned against the front of it. “You should know he’s virtually deaf, so signing is really all he’s got. You should try and make nice with him.”

“Why? He completely ignored me.”

“Don’t you think that if you know more signing people, your friends might want to learn?”

Brilliant. I watched as Levi rolled his sleeves up just below his elbow. I know I couldn’t see the rest of his arm, but from what I could tell he had some serious muscle definition. I leaned against the doorframe just watching. _I should probably do something else._

“Now about that stairwell bit,” he said, finishing with the second sleeve. The stairwell bit. That moment would be forever emblazoned in my mind. Just thinking about it got my heart going faster.

“What about it?” I asked.

Levi looked up at me and said nothing. He took two steps and was just as close as he was before. His hand found my waist and his other swept behind my neck. He didn’t pin me down or anything this time, but there was no fucking way I was going _anywhere_. I felt his breath on me again. “Now I’ve got you alone,” he sighed, pressing himself up against me. I was right about the muscles. Damn, he felt _ripped_. I hesitantly put my hands on his hips as he leaned in closer and closer. _Almost there…_ Just as I felt his lips start to brush against mine, Dr. Zoe burst through the door. _GODDAMMIT._

“Good morning, good morning!”

Levi spun away like lightning and I quickly took a seat.

“What do you want, shitty four-eyes?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So close. So close 
> 
> edit: If anyone wants to talk about parts of the story, has a question about it, or just wants to say hi, i'm on tumblr at jinseinotsuki.tumblr.com :) my ask box is always open and i'd love to hear your thoughts! or we can talk in the comments, too ^^
> 
> <3


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you SO much for all of the support! I can't say enough how much it means to me that you enjoy reading this! <3

It was unexpectedly busy for a Friday afternoon, but this is what always happens when we have warm spring days – students flock over to us and we open up the entire shop. Customers sit outside and we pull back the windows so it was virtually one continuous room. I handled the middle chunk of the tables again while Marco took the outside and Historia the inside. Armin was utility behind the counter, expediting drinks and Mikasa was circulating helping clear tables when there wasn’t a line. Everyone was in a great mood. Even Connie at the sinks. The beautiful weather just lifted everyone up and we were flying through tables. I even forgot about Levi for a bit and our near misses at the university. As I grabbed a fresh pad of post-its from under the register, Armin pulled me to the side.

“Any word from Levi yet? I dropped off my paper in his mailbox.”

I shook my head. I hadn’t heard from him since I left his office on Monday. I didn’t wanna text him and seem desperate, but even Armin was getting fidgety.

<<I can text him if you want, but I don’t wanna bother him if he’s busy>>

“Nah,” Armin shrugged. “He’ll answer us eventually.”

Mikasa jogged over to the registers.

“Hey, glad I got both of you together. We’re kicking ass here today!” She smiled wide. “We’re gonna make a killing.”

She was right. Busy days meant lots of tips. And we always needed money.

“I saw another flock of college kids coming down from campus, so let’s clear some more of these tables and get ready.” She swung to the register and cleared off the counter. Armin prepped the machines and cleaned up the ovens. I breezed through my tables and cleared off crumb-filled dishes and lipstick-stained mugs. Marco stumbled his way over to me, arms filled with dishes.

“Phew, busy, huh?”

I smiled and nodded.

“You seem a lot happier lately, Eren. I’m glad,” he commented, smiling back at me, his freckles glowing from sun exposure. He readjusted the dishes and continued back to Connie, who was singing some indiscernible tune. He’s ridiculous sometimes. The crowd Mikasa saw made their way into the shop. I hadn’t seen these people before, but they were signing. _Ugh. Him again._ Jean fucking Kirschtein sauntered into the café. One meeting and I didn’t like him. I know Levi said to try and be friends with him, but I don’t have any intention on being nice to that jerk. He was walking with what looked like friends. I dropped my dishes off with Connie and got ready to handle the orders. _He might not even remember me._ Then I realized that he’d need someone to help him order. I approached the register and stood next to Mikasa, with an expressionless face.

“Eren, what’re you – ?”

I put my finger up, telling her to hang on. I tapped on the counter and got the group’s attention. Jean proceeded to look at me as everyone else did.

“Hey. What would you like?” I signed.

He recognized me and scoffed. “You again?”

“Yeah. Do you want something or not?”

Marco came out from the break room with his phone. “Mikasa, I’m taking a fifteen – oh, sorry. I didn’t realize we had more customers.”

I saw Jean’s eyes widen. “I’ll take him.”

I looked back and saw Marco standing there. Stifling a smile, I scribbled out a note for him and stuck it on his arm.

<<This is Jean and he said he wants you>>

I saw his face start turning red beneath his freckles. When Marco got flustered, there was no hiding it. “I-I, um, ah – ”

Jean flashed a smirk. He cleared his throat and clumsily spoke, “Hi.” I could tell he didn’t like to speak and he hadn’t had much practice. His smirk changed to an embarrassed scowl.

“It’s okay, I’m – ” I interrupted Marco and pointed at my ears. “Oh.” He took an extra pad of post-its from beneath the register and wrote his name and phone number and stuck it to the counter before he vanished into the break room.

“Well _that_ was interesting,” Mikasa muttered.

***

Jean and his friends sat in my section and I avoided their tables as much as I could. And they didn’t seem to mind. I _did_ notice that Jean kept texting someone. My guess was Marco, considering his fifteen turned into over an hour. Watching the texting made me start checking my phone. Still nothing from Levi. _Chill out. He’ll text you eventually._ I just wanted him to show up through that door again.

We slowed down a lot since Jean and company walked in. Tables were emptying outside and only a handful were occupied in the café itself. Armin came over to me.

“Let’s take a break together?”

I nodded and we both walked through the black doors to the break room. Marco was at the table giggling over his phone.

“Ahem,” Armin loudly cleared his throat. Marco jumped and nearly dropped his phone onto the cement floor. “O-oh, sorry, I’ve been back here too long, huh? I-I’m just gonna – gonna go back out there. Yeah, I’ll – yeah.” He stuttered all the way back onto the floor. Precious.

“Well, Marco finally has something interesting going on in his life,” Armin commented taking Marco’s vacated seat. I sat opposite of him and fiddled with my fingers, itching to check my phone again. “You need to relax,” he said, noticing my fidgeting. “He’ll text you.” I reached for my notes.

<<You want him to text, too>>

“Yeah, so?”

<<You’re downplaying it>>

Armin shrugged. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I smiled at his forced nonchalance. In the silence that followed, we heard an odd creaking noise coming from just beyond the door to the floor. I raised my brow and looked at Armin. “That was w – ”

Just as Armin started to get the word out, we heard a large crash and rushing water. Connie bellowed. The two of us sprung to our feet and burst through the door and saw water blasting out from beneath the sink with Connie on the floor, drenched and getting wetter. Me and Armin grabbed him by his arms and dragged him to the back. He staggered to his feet, coughing and spitting out water. As he caught his breath, he managed to say, “Thanks, guys.”

“You okay?” Armin asked, checking him for injuries.

Connie shrugged him off. “Yeah, yeah, I’m fine. Just caught off guard. It just fuckin’ burst open.”

Mikasa bolted over and tried to see where the source of the water was, but she couldn’t get close enough to tell if it was just the sink or pipes in the wall. The water was getting everywhere, slowly flooding the kitchen area and getting closer to the dining room and the break room at the same time. _Shit._

“Okay! Everyone out!” Mikasa shouted over the roar of the water. “Armin, Eren, you go home. I’ll meet you there later. I’ll call the owner and get this shit fixed. God-fucking-dammit.”

“Are you sure you don’t want us to help?” Armin asked, timidly.

“No! Just go!” Mikasa snapped. She whipped out her phone and pushed us all out the back door into the alleyway behind the shop. Armin and me walked out to the street and began the walk home, keeping an eye on Mikasa who was pacing furiously.

***

A four hours and a shower later, me and Armin sat across from each other at the kitchen table, fiddling with our Chinese food in silence. I checked my phone for messages.

“Still nothing?” Armin asked, guiding a chunk of sesame chicken into his mouth.

I shook my head. Mikasa hadn’t gotten contacted us since we left the café. And there was nothing from Levi still. Not sure what Armin was asking for, but either way – nothing. I pushed my lo mein around my plate. I picked out all of the pork and it was just the vegetables left. Of course, I hadn’t texted either of them at all. I didn’t wanna bother Mikasa and I didn’t wanna seem desperate to Levi.

Armin took a swig of his coke. “I dropped my paper off to him, too. Maybe I didn’t pick the right one.” _Okay, we’re talking about Levi._ He chewed on the side of his mouth. I could tell he was doubting himself again, so I grabbed my post-its.

<<I’m sure your paper was great. Maybe he’s busy>>

I felt a twinge in my chest as I wrote it. _I hope he’s busy._

“I guess.”

<<Which did you give him?>>

“That one I spent weeks on last semester, remember? It was about modern characterization techniques in British literature versus American literature.”

<<The one you cried over?>>

He flung rice at me. “Shut up. Yeah.”

<<That’s like 20 pages>>

“24. Not counting references.”

<<He’s probably not done>>

Armin shrugged. “I just shouldn’t get my hopes up.” He scooped more rice into his mouth. “I’ll just forget about it until he says something.”

I gave him a thumbs-up just as my phone buzzed. Armin lurched across the table and snatched it, sending the remnants of his dinner across the room. “UGH,” he sighed. “It’s just Mikasa. Oh,” he remembered this afternoon, “it’s Mikasa.”

Mikasa [8:17pm]: This is really fucking bad.

Eren [8:19pm]: What happened now? Is everything okay?

Mikasa [8:22pm]: No. The ovens are damaged and the electric’s fried. We’re gonna have to close for like a week or two before it’s back

 _Shit_. I showed Armin the texts. The coffee shop was our only source of income. I only worked with Levi for one day, so I didn’t get paid for it yet. Not that much work was done anyway.

“What’re we gonna do for money?”

***

I shifted in bed and glanced at my phone. _1:14am_. I could hear Mikasa just getting in downstairs and locking the door. The stairs creaked as she made her way to her room. I felt bad. We should’ve just stayed. As she shuffled to her room, I slipped out of bed and met her out in the hallway. I tapped her shoulder. The look on her face – I don’t even know how to describe it. It was like some mixture of frustration, anger, confusion, and sadness. I just gave her a hug. That’s really all I could do. She weakly returned the gesture.

“We’ll talk about what we’re gonna do in the morning, ‘kay?”

I nodded into her shoulder. She broke from the hug and went into her room, shutting the door behind her. I stood there for a minute. _Do I go in?_ I could hear my phone buzz on my bed. _It’s probably Armin._ I heard him snore through his door. _Wait a minute._ Two giant leaps and I was back on my bed, smothering my phone. It was Levi. After a fucking week, it was finally Levi. I felt my stomach flip.

Levi [1:19am]: Hey

_Okay. Breathe. He’s just saying hi. At…1:20 in the morning. Right._

Eren [1:21am]: Hi

_Was that enough? He read it. He’s typing. Breathe in…_

Levi [1:22am]: Busy?

_Breathe out. Does he really think I’m busy?_

Eren [1:22am]: Nah, just laying in bed. Can’t sleep

_Cool. You’re playing it cool. Good job._

Levi [1:23am]: That makes two of us.

 _Now what do I say?_ I stared at the message, stumped at what to do next. _Do I invite him over? Do I get a little naughty? How do I even do that?_ I saw the texting bubble pop up.

Levi [1:25am]: Come outside?

 _WHAT._ I started to freak out. He just came to my house? What was I supposed to do? Tell him to go away? Fuck that. I was going out there. I just had to make sure that neither Mikasa or Armin woke up.

Eren [1:26am]: Give me a minute

I pulled a dark green zip hoodie out of my closet and put it on over my black tank top. Slipping into my slightly damp sneakers, I made my way into the hallway and glided down the stairs, barely making contact with each step. I looked down and saw my pajama pants. _Shit_ , _I should’ve changed._ My bright blue pajama pants were a tattered mess. _I can’t let him see me like this._ My phone buzzed again.

Levi [1:30am]: Coming?

I sighed. _Oh well._ I unlocked the door and crept out onto the stoop, gently closing it behind me. I turned and saw Levi leaning against his parked car.  

“Long time, no see,” he said, expressionless. _Weird._

“Tired?” I signed.

He nodded. “Nice pants,” he signed back.

I felt my face getting warm. I can’t believe I forgot to change my pants. A light breeze swept through the light fabric and goose bumps rushed up my legs. _Awkward_. I surveyed Levi as he rubbed the bridge of his nose. He wasn’t as I was used to seeing him. Usually, he’s sharp and put together, but now he was disheveled. White dress shirt dangling over his wrinkled chinos and brown military boots. It’s like he stumbled out of his house without thinking. He motioned for me to follow him. We walked down the block, away from the main road and café, deeper into the residential part of town. I tapped him on the shoulder.

“Where are we going?” I asked.

He shrugged as he strolled down the street next to me, heels dragging along the concrete. I sunk my hands into the pockets of my hoodie and continued on next to him. Crickets kept time as we turned onto a side street. Being mute always made me feel like I was missing something, but then and there, walking in silence next to Levi and hearing him breathe with the wind was music that would be destroyed by spoken words. The moon crept out from behind a cloud and glinted off of Levi’s black hair. He flipped it out of his face. We caught eyes and he started signing again.

“So why couldn’t you sleep?”

 _Do I tell him I was thinking of him?_ “The coffee shop’s in trouble.”

He stopped walking and sat on the stoop of a brownstone. I looked at the building for signs of life and it was totally dark. It was almost 2am anyway. I sat next to him.

“A pipe burst and damaged a lot of the electrical stuff. We might be closed for over a week.”

“Why’s that keeping you up?” The tiredness showed in his dimmed expressiveness with his signing.

“Money.”

He sighed and slid his arm around my shoulders. I felt him pull me in and I rested my head on his shoulder. A deep breath took in his scent. I hadn’t noticed it before – it was like a musky ocean. I don’t know. Is that how you talk about fragrance? Whatever you call it, it was really great. I found myself breathing deeper just to keep taking it in. His hand rubbed my shoulder.

“It’s gonna be alright,” he muttered. I felt his voice vibrate through his shoulder. Deep, velvety, and mellow. I felt sleep creeping up on me when something furry brushed up against my ankles. I almost jumped out of my pants and scurried to the front door of the apartments. Two hazel eyes were staring at me as the white and brown animal let out a faint meow.

“Will you calm down?” Levi managed to say through a stifled laugh. “It’s just a cat.” I watched as the cat nuzzled against Levi’s dangling arm. He proceeded to rub the back of its head between the ears. I could hear it purring. _He’s good at that._

When he looked back at me, I asked, “How’re so good with it?”

“I have two cats at home,” he spoke, since his one hand was incapacitated. “Boy and a girl.”

“Names?”

“One’s a red Somali named Isabel. The other is Farlan and he’s a Savannah. Here,” he took my wrist and guided me to a seat on the steps. “Dangle your hand down and see if she comes to you.” I apprehensively lowered my hand next to the cat. Levi guided her towards my hand and pulled away. I felt her nose bump up against my knuckles. She pulled away and brushed up against my legs.

“She likes you,” Levi said, smiling. I looked at him and returned a wide grin. A cool breeze swept down the street sent a chill through me. A second later, the cat leapt onto my lap and I gasped. Levi stifled another cackle. “Okay, she _really_ likes you. Use your fingers and massage right between her ears like I was.” I obliged and cautiously rubbed the cat’s head. She purred and shifted in my lap. This was really nice. Relaxing even. I felt Levi slide closer to me and place his arm back on my shoulder.

“I think Isabel and Farlan would like you,” he whispered. I couldn’t really sign back, so I just smiled. I wanted to tell him that I wanted to meet them, but there was something else demanding the use of my hands. Even if I could tell him, I probably wouldn’t be able to choke out the words. He was looking into my eyes again. I swear I couldn’t even think. At that moment, his eyes were all I knew – cool and gray. The smile was plastered on my face. I saw him glance down at my lips for a split second and look back at me. We were alone. It was late. There was a purring animal on my lap. He was gonna kiss me and I was gonna let him. His hand moved from my shoulder to the nape of my neck and his thumb brushed along the back of my jaw. I felt my face warm up again and the corners of Levi’s mouth twitched upward. He started to lean in. His scent flooded my nose again and I let out a content sigh. I started to lean in, too, when I felt the cat shift again. A stronger wind blew and the cat jumped off of my lap and dashed away into the night. The two of us watched she scurried down the road. _Aw._ _I was enjoying that._ Levi turned his attention back to me and rested his free hand on my thigh. _This is better._ I looked straight into his eyes, feeling my face turning pink as the space closed between our lips. Levi’s lightly pressed up against my lips and I could feel him sigh into the kiss. _Oh my god this is awesome_. I could feel his stubble tickle my upper lip and I tried to hold back a smile. He broke the kiss and rested his forehead against mine.

“What?” he breathed.

I shook my head, reached up to his face and pulled him back in for another kiss. I didn’t want to stop. His lips were so soft and he kept the kiss going. He tasted like pizza and coffee and it was the best combination I’ve ever experienced. I heard him moan softly as he pulled me in closer. His hand slipped under my hoodie and around my waist. It brushed against some exposed skin and the cold made me jump.

“Sorry,” he said as we separated again. _Don’t pull away…_

I fumbled with my hands to sign “It’s okay” but could barely get it out. My mind was completely scrambled.

“Uh, are you alright?”

I scratched the back of my head and smiled sheepishly.

“You’re adorable. And taste like Chinese food.”

I pulled my thoughts together and signed, “You taste like pizza and coffee.”

Levi chuckled and looked down. “Is that a problem?”

I shook my head and leaned back in, kissing him again. I couldn’t get enough. _This is perfect._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> at last :)
> 
> feel free to message me on tumblr (jinseinotsuki) if you wanna talk outside of the comments :D 
> 
> <3


	7. Chapter 7

The perk of having the coffee shop closed on Saturday was getting to work with Levi on the weekend. I mean it sucked that we were out a weekend’s worth of pay and tips, but I could deal. The only downside right now was the physical feat of staying the fuck awake. I was up all night thinking about kissing Levi on the stoop of that apartment. Replaying the scene over and over until the sun rose. His taste, his scent, feeling his hand on my thigh and neck, even the cat thing. I don’t know what possessed me to agree to go with him at 9am again. We were in his office all morning. I started nodding off at 10. A snored myself awake at 11. Now it was noon and I could tell that he wasn’t happy about me falling asleep. _I hope he doesn’t think I’m bored._ He snapped his folders shut and I jumped.

“Okay,” he said. “You need to wake up.” He pulled out his own pad of post-its from the center drawer of the desk. “Do me a favor. Run to the library and grab me,” he scribbled out something on the post-it, “this book.” He offered it to me. I looked at the note and back at him. “What?”

“By myself?” I signed, apprehensively.

“Yes, by yourself,” he replied aloud. Levi stood up and stuck the note to my arm. He signed, “I have my phone and you have yours. If you have a problem, just text me, okay?”

I nodded. “Where’s the library?”

“It’s right behind the big ass administration building. The library is super white and fancy looking. Can’t miss it. Just go right when you leave this building and it’s a block or two down the road.”

I yawned and flashed a thumbs-up and moved to the door. “Hey,” he called right as I reached for the handle. When I turned, he was right behind me. He gripped my shirt and muttered, “You’re cute when you’re sleeping.” He pecked my cheek and felt my face turn red. He chuckled and sent me on my way.

I stepped out onto the sidewalk and made my way down the Boulevard. _Okay,_ I thought. _There’s the administrative offices_. Vines crawled up the façade of the red-brick, four-story building. _He said it’s behind it…?_ I could spot a white stone building peeking out from behind the offices. _Oh_. As I started to head over there, students started to flood the grounds. I guess that classes just finished and everyone was moving, but good god it was like a fucking human swarm. _A lot of people must take Saturday classes,_ I thought. I pushed my way through the crowd and slipped onto a walkway behind the red building and found myself on a sidewalk to the library. _That was close._ The hyper-clean glass doors slid open with a dull whir and I found myself in the foyer of the library. It was modern looking and stereotypically quiet. There was a pair of elevators right in the center of the first floor and it rose through the center of each one, all the way up to the sixth. I glanced to the side and saw a directory. _Hm._ I scanned through looking for languages or linguistics or something. I pulled the note out of my pocket and re-read the title. “Syntax and Signs: Handsy Grammar.” _Clever title,_ I thought. A second glance at the directory and I caught languages on the third floor.

Every step on the marble floor echoed throughout the lobby and free-access computer area. I felt like everyone was looking at me. Every so often, a student would peer over their monitor at me and, naturally, I picked up the pace, frantically pressing the lone “up” button for the elevator. The chrome doors slid open and I slipped in. Just as the doors began to close, I heard a cart speeding along the floor and a familiar voice hiss, “Hold it!” I instinctively shoved my hand between the nearly closed doors and the elevator sprung back open. _Shit._ Jean Kirschtein in all his ass-hat glory shoved a cart full of books into the elevator car and pushed past me. I hit the “door close” button and pressed “3.” He sighed in audible disgust.

“What’s your problem?” I signed curtly.

His eyes narrowed. “Nothing,” he replied. “What’re you doing here? You don’t even go to school here.”

The elevator jolted upward.

“Is that why you hate me?”

He rolled his eyes. “Didn’t answer my question.”

“Levi needs a book.”

Jean grunted and stopped responding. What a jerk. _Is he really not going to help me?_ I could feel him looking at me and each time I glanced over, he looked away. The elevator came to a smooth stop and the doors parted revealing the third floor of the library. It was even quieter than the first floor. There were a handful of students with their noses in books furiously typing on their laptops. The occasional crunch of a potato chip came from some random corner. I stepped out onto the carpet and had literally no idea where to go. Jean sped out from behind and stopped about a foot or two in front of me, before wheeling around.

“What book do you need,” he signed with an exasperated sigh.

As much as I hated myself for it, I forced a smiled and showed him the note. He laughed at the title. “Yeah, this is a good one,” he continued a little less reluctantly. He turned back around and pushed his cart. I followed. In silence, we turned down a maze of aisles and passed countless shelves of classic literature and language textbooks. “Introductory Phonology,” “Languages of Asia,” and _Huh?_ I stopped when I saw “Beginning Sign Language.” It was the exact same copy as the one in the bookstore by our house. This one was hardcover and was like a textbook. _Damn, it’s heavy._ I flipped through the pages and saw countless signs and grammar notes and all that shit. _It’s perfect._ Jean cleared his throat at the far end of the aisle, waving the book Levi was looking for. I clutched the sign language textbook and jogged down to him.

“Thanks,” I signed, reaching for the book. He yanked it away. “What’re you doing?”

“You can have it, if you give me something first.”

I shot him a skeptical look. _What’s he doing?_

“Just give me the book.”

He smirked and slipped the book under his arm. “You know, we’re all alone here. And it’s quiet. How about you just give me a kiss and you can have the book?”

My eyes shot wide open. “No! You’re with Marco, aren’t you?”

He shrugged. “It’s not really flying with him. You, I can’t get out of my head.” He leaned in closer to me and I lurched backwards.

“I’m not into you,” I answered defiantly. “Sorry.” I snatched the book from him. “Thanks for your help.” I turned on my heels and sped away, back toward the elevator. _What the hell was that?_

***

“Um, sir,” the check-out clerk droned, “I need your ID card in order to check out these books.”

_Oh crap._

I dug around in my pockets for my post-its. _Shit._ I was so damn tired that morning that I left them at home. I started sweating. Do you have any idea how fucking hard it is to be physically incapable of explaining yourself? I pulled out my phone and texted Levi, signaling for the clerk to wait.

Eren [12:28pm]: Omg help me. They’re asking for an ID card

I flashed a sheepish smile to the clerk who was scrolling through something on her phone, bored. I fidgeted with my hands and kept shuffling. I saw the elevator across the room open up and Jean came out with an empty cart. He glanced over and winked at me. Dammit. I whirled back around and wished I could dissolve into the counter. What the fuck was he even thinking? _I’ve gotta just avoid him at all costs._ About 30 seconds later, the landline rang.

“University Library,” she sighed into the phone. “Mhm. Hello, Dr. Ackerman. Yeah? Oh, okay. Both of them? Yeah, there’s two. Uhh,” she reached over for the books and read the titles. “’Syntax and Signs’ and ‘Beginning Sign Language.’” I gulped hard. _Please let me take it._ “You got it, sir. I just need your Faculty ID number.” She quickly entered an eight-digit number. “Done. Sorry about the inconvenience. Have a nice day. Buh-bye.” She placed the phone on the received and handed me the books. “You’re all set,” she said through a semi-enthusiastic smile. “Take care.” I waved and made my way through the lobby and back out the front door.

The grounds were calmer now. Thank god. I strolled this time, following the same path I took to get here. It was a pretty nice day again. There were some clouds in the distance, but it was still nice. I wondered about the coffee shop crew. Connie, Historia, Marco….Marco. _What the hell was that thing with Kirschtein?_ He was a fucking dick to me since the first time I met him and now he wanted me to kiss him? Did he even tell Marco? _I don’t know._ All I knew was that it was weird. _Should I text Marco?_ And an even more important thought crossed my mind. _Should I tell Levi?_

“Eren?”

I turned and saw Armin emerge from the library. He jogged over to me and caught up. He had a stack of books in his hand and a bag that looked like it was equally as full. He’s such a nerd. But he’s still my nerd.

“I thought I saw you in there. What’re you doing here?” he asked, slightly out of breath. I clutched the books a bit closer and pulled out my phone. I typed out a message.

<<Forgot my post-its. Levi needed a book>>

“Oh okay. What’s the second one?”

I turned it away.

“Eren, don’t be an idiot.” He caught my arm and read the spine. “’Beginning Sign Language’? What do you – oh. This isn’t for you, is it…”

I looked down, embarrassed.

“You know if you wanted us to learn how to sign, you could’ve just let us know.”

<<But it’s a lot. I don’t want you getting overwhelmed>>

Armin laughed, almost dropping his books. “Eren, if it makes life easier, then it’s worth it. Especially if it makes you happy. To be honest, I’m surprised this didn’t come up sooner.” I smiled and took him into my free arm, squeezing him close. “Let’s go, you dork,” he mumbled. We walked together back onto the sidewalk of University Boulevard. “Mind if I come back with you? I’d like to ask what Dr. Levi thought about my paper.” I shrugged. I didn’t see why not.

The road was quiet, but I could hear chatter and such from behind the buildings. I looked around to see if I could find the source, but nothing. Armin began again. “The dorms are behind all of these buildings. Everyone’s out on the quad doing stereotypical college things. Covering songs on guitars, playing ultimate Frisbee, that kind of shit.” I looked at him with a face that said “Really?”

“Yeah. It’s awful.”

We passed the pizzeria and approached the College of Arts and Sciences. I let Armin go and got the door for him. “Thank ya, sir.” I smiled. “Third floor, right?” I nodded. I hate not having post-its. We made it up to the third floor and into the faculty office suite. Just outside Levi’s door, I heard Dr. Zoe say my name. I stopped Armin in his tracks and motioned for him to keep quiet.

“You’ve gotta be careful with Eren.”

Levi sighed. “What about him? We’re just working together.”

“Please,” she scoffed. “I see the way you look at him – ”

“See what?” He retorted. “You’ve met him twice. He’s been doing good work.”

I could hear shuffling around the room.

“Good work? What _has_ he done?”

“We’ve practiced on the program for accuracy. He’s helped organize data. For fuck’s sake, Hanji, why’re you bothering me with this?”

“Levi,” I could hear her getting heated, “I walked in on you two a few days ago, remember?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“ _Please_ ,” she pressed. “I could see the hard-on in your pants!”

“Will you shut the hell _up_?” Levi hissed.

“And now you’re thinking about bringing him with you?”

“Yes,” he declared. “I want him to be there. He’s helped a lot and it’s not like _you_ can make it.”

She flopped down into one of the chairs. “Look,” she was calming down, “he seems like a great kid. He does. Just watch yourself, okay?”

Levi’s chair creaked. “I know. He really is great.” I felt my face flush. “Since when’re you my mother?”

“Since you started getting all weird about Mr. Green Eyes.”

Armin snorted and I glared at him. My face was _burning_. Levi appeared in the doorway with Dr. Zoe right behind him. “Well, hello there. It appears you’ve been eavesdropping?” He snatched both of the books from my arms and handed me the signing text back.

“Yeah, I’m gonna go,” Hanji whispered before slipping past Levi and down to her own office.

“Sorry,” I signed. He raised his eyebrow. “Mhm,” he sassed back. _Sassy Levi? This can’t be good._ He motioned with his head for both of us to go inside. We obliged and Levi followed, shutting the door behind him. “What brings you in, Mr. Arlert?”

“O-Oh, I just wanted to ask you what you thought of my paper?”

Levi took a seat. Extraordinarily professional and composed. He adjusted his tie and rolled up his sleeves. “I thought it was exceptional. You have incredible writing skills and you can synthesize and formulate arguments well, too.”

“Th-Thank you!” Armin was beaming.

“I’ll need your help with the revision of my work. I haven’t finished it quite yet, but before I send it out for publication, I could really use your skills. Is that something you’d be willing to do? Obviously, you’d be credited.”

“Of-of course! That’d be amazing!”

Levi’s expression softened and he cracked a barely perceptible smile. “Great. Now, if you don’t mind, I have to chat with Mr. Jaeger here. I’ll email you when I have something for you, okay?”

“You’ve got it, sir.”

Levi put his hand up. “Please. Call me Levi. I don’t need to feel like your parent.”

“O-Okay, Levi.” He extended his hand for a handshake and Levi returned the gesture. Armin quickly waved bye to me before he left the office, closing the door again behind him. I looked back to Levi who was coming around his desk. He crossed his arms and looked me up and down.

“Really. Eavesdropping.”

“I couldn’t help it,” I signed. “Is it true though?”

“Is what true?”

“Are you weird about me? Mr. Green Eyes?”

Levi sighed and motioned for me to come closer to him. I stood up and moved in front of him, wringing my fingers. He ran his hands along my shoulders and down my arms before taking both of my hands in his. Mine were sweating and gross and his were cool and soft.

“First of all, your hands are sweating like crazy and it’s gross.”

_Ugh, shit._

“But more importantly,” he pulled me in a little closer and moved his hands to my hips. I exhaled and relaxed into his hold. “Yes. I’m weird about you. I’m sure you saw last night that I was weird about you.” He leaned in and pressed his lips gently against mine. I smiled into his kiss and returned it eagerly. He pulled away. “That’s why,” he cleared his throat, “that’s why I want you to come to Stohess with me next weekend. For the symposium.” I pulled my hands up and signed, practically in his face, “That didn’t happen already?”

“No, what made you think that?”

“When we had that first pizza you said it was in a few days.”

“Few days, a week or two, what’s the difference?”

I shrugged and rested my arms on his shoulders, letting my hands hang behind his head. I leaned in and kissed him again. Then I remembered Jean. _Fuck._ I recoiled.

“What?” Levi whispered.

I shook my head.

“Tell me,” he said, more sternly.

I made my way back to a chair and sighed as I collapsed into it. “I ran into Jean in the library and he helped me find the book.”

“So?”

I continued, reluctantly. “When we found the book, he wouldn’t give it to me unless I kissed him.”

“What?” He wasn’t happy.

“I didn’t,” I quickly reassured. “But it was weird. I don’t know where the hell it came from.”

I couldn’t tell what Levi was thinking. He didn’t show any emotion on his face, but he took a couple of deep breaths and fidgeted with some of the things on his desk. Yeah, he definitely wasn’t happy about this. I felt a mixture of dread and relief. Weird, yes. I mean I was relieved because Levi obviously really cared about me. But I had no idea what he was going to do. He stopped fidgeting and crossed his arms again and leaned against his desk. Again.

“Well,” he started. “That’s something we’ll have to deal with later. No one’s making moves on my – ”

My head shot up. “Your what?” I signed. I saw his cheeks get a little pink and he started tripping over his words.

“M-My, uh, assistant, obviously.”

I stood back up and walked over to him, signing, “Your what?”

“I told you, my assistant.”

Right in front of him, I signed one last time, “Your what?” as I leaned in and kissed him again, sliding my hand around the back of his neck. With my other hand, I reached around his waist and pulled him in close. I felt him relax into me and wrap his arms around my torso. I broke the kiss and smiled.

He let out a content sigh. “My boyfriend.” My stomach flipped and I beamed. I couldn’t believe he actually said it. Boyfriends. We were boyfriends! If I could’ve, I would’ve screamed. Maybe it’s a good thing I couldn’t.

“So,” he breathed. “Wanna come to Stohess with your boyfriend for the conference?”

I nodded and kissed him again. And again. And again. I couldn’t help myself. I was just so fucking happy. I whole weekend with him and only him. I kissed his cheek and his jawline and his neck. I heard him shudder as my lips pressed along the side of his neck. _Oh?_ I kissed there again and he let out a soft moan. He ran his hands along my chest and down my torso. _He likes this a LOT_. I nibbled a little on a spot closer to his collarbone and sucked a little. He jumped and pushed me away a little.

“Easy there. You keep doing that, I’ll get thrown out of here for inappropriate behavior in my office.” He adjusted his shirt and tie and let out a soft laugh.

I smiled back and asked, “Wanna get out of here?”

“Yeah, let’s go. I’m feeling pizza.”

 _I should’ve known._ “Only if you eat it with your hands,” I added.

“We’ll see.”He offered me his hand. _Really?_ I slipped my fingers in between his and felt him squeeze.

“You’re hands are still gross.”

I’d better work on that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you everyone for your support while this fic went on hiatus! Hope you enjoyed the update :)
> 
> As always, if you wanna chat outside of AO3, I'm on tumblr at jinseinotsuki.tumblr.com
> 
> <3


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh look, a rating change!

The conference was gonna be a whole weekend away with Levi. Friday morning to Sunday night. Every night I went to bed was one night closer to that weekend. Until Thursday rolled around. And I realized I hadn’t told Mikasa yet. Heh. Oops. We were sitting around the living room coffee table with a half-eaten box of pizza sitting open when Armin just let it slip.

“So, you excited to go with Levi tomorrow?”

Mikasa swallowed a chunk of her pepperoni slice. “Where’re you going?” she signed hesitantly and deliberately. It was nice to see her using the book. Practice was few and far between, but some of it was sticking and that was comforting.

Armin looked at me with an “I’m sorry” on his face. I rolled my eyes. _Are you kidding me?_ I thought about signing to them, but they weren’t ready for anything like this yet. I scribbled out my message on the white board.

<<Symposium with Levi. He needs me to help him present his work.>>

Mikasa tossed her crust onto the box and brushed her hands together to get the dust off.

“When are you leaving?”

<<Tomorrow morning. He’s picking me up at 8>>

“When’ll you be back?”

<<Sunday night>>

“Well,” she sighed, “I’m not mom. You can do what you want. Just promise me you’ll be careful, okay? Where is it?”

I nodded and slowly spelled out “Stohess” in sign.

“Okay. Just text me okay?”

Armin and I exchanged a skeptical look. “You’re okay with this?” he asked.

“Why wouldn’t I be? This guy hasn’t done anything bad to you. And it’ll be good for you to get some time away from home. Besides,” she resumed crunching on her crust, “the coffee shop will be back up and running on Monday so then you can work a double to make up for the weekend.” She smiled wide and I just slumped into my chair. Dammit.

“Oh, everything’s fixed?” Armin wondered, pulling a slice from the cheese half of the pie.

“Yeah,” she sighed. “I got off the phone with the owner earlier and he said that the electric is back up and the ovens replaced. Pipe shouldn’t be an issue anymore either, so yeah. We can open on Sunday.”

“Thas gud,” Armin mumbled through cheese and sauce. He swallowed. “Sucks we lost those weeks though.”

“It is what it is.” Mikasa stood up and closed over the box. “I’m gonna head up to bed. I’m fucking exhausted. Eren, you done?”

I nodded.

“Alright, good night. I’ll see you before I leave, right?”

“Yup,” I signed.

“That…that was a ‘yes.’ Good.” She paused in the doorway and gave me a half smile. “You know I love you, right?”

“I love you, too,” I signed back.

“Do that again? Slower?”

I repeated the signs slower and more deliberately. I could tell she got it because she flashed a full, genuine smile before disappearing into the kitchen. We could hear her toss the box into the refrigerator and make her way up the stairs. Armin swung his feet up onto the couch and rested his head on the armrest closest to me. His blond hair dangled over the side.

“I wonder what the conference will be like. You’ve gotta tell me all about it.” He flipped over onto his belly and rested his chin on his arms on the armrest. “You must be so excited.”

“I am,” I signed slowly.

“Get to be alone with your _boyfriend_ ,” he mocked. I didn’t tell him yet. Maybe now’s a good time. I nodded and smiled.

“Wait, what?”

I smirked and grabbed the white board again.

<<He called me his boyfriend>>

“Really? Oh my god, that’s _great!_ ”

<<Yeah, I really like him and I think this weekend’s gonna be amazing>>

“I’m sure.”

He let silence fall between us again and I saw him drift away in thought. Sometimes I wish that I could hear what his brain was doing, but whatever it was, it demanded his full attention because he completely spaced out. I waved my hand in front of his eyes.

“Oh, sorry. I was just thinking.”

<<About?>>

“No, no,” he shook his hand at me. “Sign it!”

I obliged.

“Well,” he started to say aloud, “about this. Signing. And how you wanted us to learn. Oh,” he pulled the book from his bag, “hang on, I should practice with this.”

I pulled out the white board again.

<<You don’t have to right now. It’s okay>>

“Are you sure?”

<<Yup>>

“Okay. Well,” he continued, “I’m glad I’m learning.”

<<Me too. Just promise me you’ll practice when I’m away?>>

“Hell yeah!”

I smiled. He’s enthusiasm was adorable as he cracked the book back open and practiced through the signs in chapter 2. _Not bad._ He had the motions down pretty well. Even mouthing the words, too. I tapped him on the shoulder and signed slowly.

“I’m going to bed, now. Good night.”

“Good night!” he said aloud, with a huge grin plastered across his face. I smiled back and went up to my room, changed into my pajamas and drifted off to sleep in no time.

***

_Buzz. Buzz. Buzz._

I swatted my phone that incessantly rang and rang on my bedside table. Groggy, I rubbed my eyes and looked at the ceiling in a state of half-awake, still swimming thoughts. _What day is it?_ My eyes shot open. _Oh my god, today’s the day._ I forced the fog away and sprung into action. It was 7am and I still had to shower and get dressed. I packed everything I’d need the night before, which I hoped was appropriate for a conference like this. I peeled off my pajamas and hopped into the bathroom, cranking the shower to full blast. Steam devoured the room and I could feel myself sweating.

While in the shower, I was thinking about the drive to Stohess. It’s like two hours away. What the hell were we going to do for two hours in the car? It’s not like I could really have a conversation with him – he’s gotta keep his hands on the wheel. And, of course, there’s the obvious problem. I mean, we could jam to the radio, but I didn’t know what his music taste was. _He probably likes classical. Two cats and a PhD?_ My thoughts quickly left the concept of the drive and landed on the fact that we would be alone for an entire weekend. In a hotel. He didn’t tell me what the room situation would be, either. My stomach started flipping. I wrung my hands. _I can’t do this. What if something happens? What if I need Mikasa or Armin?_ I took as deep a breath as I could handle and slowly exhaled. _It’s gonna be fine. It’s gonna be fine. It’s gonna be fine._

I turned off the water and stepped onto the towel on the floor. I habitually glanced at the mirror and saw another message from Armin. It read “Have fun! You’ll be okay!” with a big smiley face next to it. _Nerd._

A dry-off, quick change and a near-death experience barreling down the stairs later, I sat on the stoop of the house, phone in hand and duffel bag beside me just waiting. I checked the time: 7:51am. _Any minute now_. _My boyfriend will be here any minute._ Boyfriend. Still is so nice to think and feel. The door opened behind me.

“Hey,” Mikasa whispered, still in pajama shorts and tank top. “You okay?”

I nodded. She took a seat next to me and put her hand on my shoulder. “Be careful, okay? And FaceTime me when you get there.” I shot her an “are you kidding me?” look. “I’m serious. I’ll hound the shit out of you.” I dug into my bag and pulled out post-its and a pen.

<<I thought you said you weren’t mom>>

“Doesn’t mean I can’t worry. I can get there fast if you need me. I’m just a text message away, okay?”

I nodded again. Levi’s pulled up in his familiar silver Lexus. I leapt up and grabbed my bag. Before I walked to his car, I turned and threw my hands around Mikasa and squeezed. She’s still my sister.

“Take care, Eren. See you Sunday.”

I broke away and waved bye. Levi popped the trunk and emerged from the driver’s side of the car.

“Ready, kid?” He was in a tee shirt and skinny jeans with black sneakers. I never saw him like this before. The short sleeves showed off every single muscle in his arms and it clung to everything defined on his torso. _Shit._ I staggered forward and handed him my bag, which he nonchalantly tossed in the trunk, before sinking into the passenger’s seat. My hands were sweating like crazy and no matter how many times I wiped them on my jeans, they just wouldn’t dry the fuck off. Just outside my door, Levi and Mikasa were chatting with each other. Mikasa was stoic and defensive as always. I couldn’t hear exactly what she was saying, but her tone was obviously stern. Levi just stood there, arms crossed. I could tell he saw this coming. After a couple minutes, they exchanged phone numbers and Mikasa waved as she walked back inside and Levi plopped into the driver’s seat.

“Hey, cutie,” he said through a smirk. I scratched the back of my head and felt myself get a little pink. His hand cupped my chin and pulled me in for a quick kiss before shifting the car into drive. “Ready?” I nodded. “Good. It’s two hours to Stohess, so we’ve gotta get going. You ate, right?”

“I’m not hungry,” I signed.

“Well, that’s gonna change, I’m sure. If you get hungry, just let me know, okay?”

“Yup. Where are we staying?”

“You’ll see.” He cut the wheel and pulled out onto the street, blazing toward the expressway.

***

An hour and fifteen minutes into the drive, I felt myself drifting off. Something about the hum of the car and the low music in the background. Levi was controlling the radio but I wasn’t paying any attention to the music. Whatever was playing was soothing though. I think it was a Taylor Swift song. I leaned against the window and my eyes started to close. But before I actually fell asleep, I heard Levi’s voice humming along with the song. _He thinks I’m asleep._ I kept listening and, thirty seconds later, he was full on singing along.

“Boys only want love if it’s torture.”

_Oh my god._

“Don’t say I didn’t, say I didn’t warn ya.”

He started really getting into it. Good thing my eyes were closed because if thought I was awake I wouldn’t be able to witness this in any way, shape, or form. I heard him turn up the volume a little.

“Boys only want love if it’s torture.” He started tapping on the steering wheel. “Don’t say I didn’t, _say I didn’t warn yaaaaa!_ So it’s gonna be forever, or it’s gonna go down in flames – ” I snorted and Levi quickly shut off the radio. “How long have you been listening, you brat?” He pushed my arm playfully and I faked a snore. “Oh, so that’s how you’re playing it?” I felt the car veer to the right and slow down. I perked up and checked out where we were. It was a rest stop and it was good timing. I felt my stomach rumble a little. Levi cut the wheel and pulled into a space.

“So that never happened and I’ll deny any of it. Anyway, I’m fucking hungry. You?”

“Yeah,” I signed. “What’s here?”

“The usual fast-food shit. Let’s go in. Might be nice to stretch our legs.”

The parking lot of the rest area was about half full. No one lingered outside thanks to the overcast sky that was turning darker and darker by the second. Levi extended his hand for me to take, which I did happily. My hands were less sweaty for some reason. It was nice to be out with him. My boyfriend. Fuck, that’s nice to say.

“I’m glad you came with me,” he said. “I don’t usually get to relax much.”

“Hanji?” I signed with my free hand.

“Are you kidding? I need a vacation from _her_. She’s an incredible academic but, Christ, she’s just non-stop.”

I smiled. It was relieving to see this side of Levi. Relaxed. Comfortable. Casual. He opened the door to the food court and held it for me. There were only three restaurants and a convenience store. A burger joint, a pizza place, and a coffee chain. The convenience store was ridiculously small, too. A few magazines and a wide selection of candy. But that’s pretty much it, save a single cooler for water and sodas. Levi marched us over to the pizza place. Not surprising. He scanned the pies sitting in the case. “Well this is crap,” he blurted. I snorted at his blatant statement. _Oh my god_. I could see the teenaged cashier shift uncomfortably. We sauntered over to the burger place and grabbed two of the premade cheeseburgers and headed to the cashier there. _Wait, burgers at 9am?_ I thought. _Ah, whatever._

“Two cups, too.” Levi said. The guy, completely devoid of emotion, handed Levi two paper cups for the fountain soda machine behind him. We finished up the transaction that Levi _insisted_ on paying for and went on our way. Levi tore into his burger and took almost half of it in one bite. _Damn._ Meanwhile I neatly unwrapped mine and took a modest chunk.

“This is still shit,” he sighed. He took a swig of coke and plopped down in one of the many empty tables. Thunder rumbled over the industrial air conditioner that reverberated through the “dining room.” Is that what you call them? They don’t seem classy enough to be called that. Anyway, Levi ripped through his burger in two more bites and crushed the wrapper in his hand. Meanwhile, I was barely through half of mine. I don’t know why, I usually eat quickly.

“C’mon,” he said, swallowing the last bits of burger, “I wanna get back on the road before it starts raining.” I put down my food.

“Is it okay if I eat in the car?” I signed. I didn’t think he’d want my burger residue to get all over his interior. He took a pause and was obviously weighing the options. Looking at how much I had left, he said, “Meh, it’s fine. Come on.” He extended his hand again and I happily obliged. This was really nice to just… _do_. Levi’s hand in my right hand and my half-eaten burger in my left, we strolled out to the parking lot, just in time for the sky to open and rain to assault the asphalt.

“Crap.” He looked over to me as we lingered under the awning. “Finish that up, because we’ve gotta run.” I looked out into the lot and there we were – halfway across the lot. _Oh, man._ I shoved the last quarter of the sandwich down my throat and swallowed hard. Levi squeezed my hand. “Ready?” I nodded and I could’ve sworn I saw him smile a little before we bolted out into the rain. _This is crazy!_ I thought, as we were instantly drenched two steps out. I could feel the water pouring from my hair down my face and under my shirt. My clothes started clinging to me. When we finally got into the car, I let out a huge sigh and wiped my face, only to make it wetter. I looked over to Levi who was just as soaked as me.

“Ah, we’re fuckin’ soaked,” he groaned. I couldn’t help but laugh as his usually shiny, perfectly falling hair was matted against his forehead, turning his undercut into a pseudo-bowl cut. “You think this is funny?” he shot. I flashed a toothy grin and tousled his hair. I don’t know what possessed me, but I just had to do it. “What? You…” he reached over and did the same to me. I leaned over and used both hands to fuck up his hair even more. As I pulled my hands away, He seized my wrists. “Now, who’s in trouble?” he breathed. His eyes narrowed and his lips curled into a smirk. _I walked right into this._ We remained still. Droplets traced their way from his forehead down around his eyes and highlighted his angular jawline. He guided my hands around his neck and I felt our rain-soaked shirts stick together. His chiseled torso that I’d only seen through dress shirts slid against my own. _Shit_. My one knee rested against his seat and the other anchored me against the door. This wasn’t the most comfortable position, but there was no way in hell I was moving. Levi ran his thumb along my lips, brushing away stray rain before wandering to my neck and guiding my head closer to him. My pants were getting tighter and tighter as we inched closer and closer. I closed the gap and pressed my lips against his and sighed into a deep kiss. This time was different. I felt Levi kiss me back hard. I could feel his tongue moving in his own mouth before parting my lips and entering mine. He tasted like the best burger and coke I could ever want. I apprehensively pushed my tongue against his and felt him smile. I broke the kiss and looked at him with an expression of “What did I do wrong?”

“You’ve never kissed like that before, huh?”

I felt my face get hot.

“I can tell you liked it though,” he quipped, glancing down at my crotch. My cheeks were burning and Levi chuckled. “Okay, okay,” he pecked my lips, “let’s get going. We’re not that far away.” I sank into my seat and buckled up. Levi turned the car on and swung out of the space, wipers at full speed. I felt him squeeze my thigh and grab my hand before gunning it onto the highway.

***

“Eren?”

“Ereeeen?”

I felt a poke on my ribcage before rubbing my eyes.

“There you are, sleepyhead. Let’s go, I was able to get us checked in early.”

“That’s good,” I haphazardly signed through a yawn. My legs felt like cement as I swung them out of the car and planted them on what I realized was an ornately paved valet station at the front of the hotel. When I looked into the lobby through the glass doors, the place looked like a goddamned palace. “This is where we’re _staying?_ ”

“Yup,” Levi grunted as he pulled our bags from the trunk. “Let’s get going. If you think this is nice, you’re gonna shit bricks when you see our suite.” _Suite?_

Levi carried the bags through the lobby, shaking off any assistance from the hotel staff, and caught an empty, closing elevator by throwing _my_ bag at it. “Sorry,” he apologized, “hope there wasn’t anything fragile in there.” Luckily there wasn’t. We rode the elevator for what seemed like forever. Swiping your room key chose the floor, so I didn’t have a clue how high up we were going. I watched the lights change with each floor. _19, 20, 21, 22…_. We finally stopped on the 30 th floor. The highest one there.

“This high up?”

“Yup. I like rooms with a view,” Levi shrugged.

“What kind of view?”

“You’ll see.”

The 30th floor was a circular atrium, with each of the five rooms facing each other across a marble expanse. We walked over to the one directly across from the elevator. Levi placed our bags down and swiped the room key. The reader turned green and he pushed the door open to reveal a beautiful, sleek, modern suite. _Holy shit_. I walked in and ran my hands across the oak finished trims. The bathroom was a marble and porcelain dream with a full-length mirror in front of two sinks. Bathtub to the right, shower to the left. A couple steps down was a dining area with a solid mahogany table. Behind it was a mini kitchen with a stove, oven, and pristine dishes. I turned around and saw the floor to ceiling window adjacent to the king sized bed. One king sized bed. I looked over my shoulder at Levi and he was leaning against the wall. “Like it?”

“It’s amazing,” I signed.

“Look outside.” I walked to the window and looked out across the city. I could see everything. Stohess was nestled in the middle of a mountain range. From here, I could see mountains in the distance and the staggered buildings across Stohess stood majestic against the greenery. Some older buildings with ivy crawling up the façade stood out against the more modern architecture. _This must look amazing at night_. I felt Levi sigh into my neck, giving me chills. His lips traced along my shoulder and his arms wrapped around my torso. I tried to turn around and face him, but he wouldn’t let me.

“Shh....” He ran his hands along my chest and traveled down to the bottom of my shirt. I felt his hands slide beneath my tee and run along my abdomen and back up to my chest. He brushed my nipples and I shuddered. _What the hell?_

“Someone likes that,” Levi whispered as he started to play with them. With one hand, he turned my head towards him and he kissed me just like earlier, but this time his tongue met mine right away. I was melting. I pushed back. I didn’t care. All I wanted was to keep kissing him. For him to keep his hands on me. To keep feeling good. I broke the kiss, turned around and grabbed Levi’s face, and continued kissing him. Hard. I kicked off my shoes and Levi lifted off my shirt. I quickly did the same for him as we staggered toward the bed. I ran my hands down his chest and abs while I kissed down the side of his face to his neck. I nibbled and he collapsed onto the bed. I forgot that he liked that, but watching him just crumble like that just turned me on even more. I straddled him and cupped his face in my hands kept kissing him. I just wanted all of him and I couldn’t help myself. Levi snuck his hands around my waist and in one quick motion, he flipped me onto my back and he was on top of me. I shuffled to the pillows and Levi unbuttoned my pants and ripped them off me. I kicked them onto the floor before he dove back into me. With his lips, he traced every part of me from my lips down to my waist. I felt myself leaking into my underwear as he got closer and closer to the waistband. I reached down and unbuttoned his jeans before shoving my hand into his crotch, gripping his length. _Whoa._

“Want me to take them off?” I nodded furiously. He tore them off and tossed them next to mine. I slid my legs out from underneath him and wrapped them around his waist. Levi propped himself up, right above me. His hair dangled inches from his face and he was panting. I realized that I was breathing hard, too.

“What is it?” I signed.

“Are you okay?”

“I was until you stopped.”

He smiled. “Stopped what? This?” He pressed his bulge right up against my ass, putting pressure right where it mattered. _Fuck_. I was getting wetter. He kept grinding and I started panting heavier and heavier before I just couldn’t take it anymore. I peeled off my underwear and Levi quickly did the same. I reached down and ran my hands along his hard-on. I gripped the base of his shaft and stroked the entirety of his length. He buckled as I continued to stroke faster and faster. I pushed him down onto his back and kissed around his base before running my tongue up his length.

“Oh, fuck.” He looked down at me. “Are you sure you-you wanna – ?”

I flashed a smile and took his swollen head into my mouth. I had no idea what I was doing. But it made Levi feel good and that’s all that I cared about. I sucked the head a little before I tried to take more of it into my mouth. I heard Levi sigh and run his hand through my hair. I stroked the bottom of his dick and worked the top half with my mouth. Whatever I was doing was working and it was working fast. He was moaning. Squirming. Pulling my hair a bit. It was fucking hot. I worked it as much as I could before I heard him say, “God – Eren, I’m gonna cum – !” I quickly took him out of my mouth and he shot his load all over his torso. Sweating. Bucking. _Oh my god, he’s so fucking gorgeous._ I watched as his orgasm slowed and, just as he could catch his breath –

“Your turn,” he growled, pinning me down. He ran his hands up my legs and licked straight from the seam on my balls to the tip of my throbbing head. His lips worked the very tip of my dick and I could feel him sucking out the pre-cum. His hand massaged my balls and wandered just beneath them. He pressed against my perineum and pre-cum oozed out of me uncontrollably. I gasped as he managed to massage my prostate. _Damn, he knows what he’s doing._ He took more of me into his mouth and I grabbed his hair as he started to bob up and down. My head was swimming. This was unreal. Every part of me was tingling in a way I’d never felt before. Even Levi was enjoying giving me head. _Is he gonna want to…_. Levi’s phone rang and shattered the rhythmic breathing and moaning.

“Who the _fuck_ is calling me,” he seethed.

“It’s probably Mikasa,” I feebly signed. “I was supposed to FaceTime her. You should answer it.”

He pulled his pants off the floor and removed his phone from the back pocket.

“This is _far_ from over.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you thank you thank you for all of the support <3 your kind words mean so much! As always, I'm totally down if you wanna chat in the comments or on tumblr :) (jinseinotsuki.tumblr.com) 
> 
> <3


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Took long enough, huh? 
> 
> Thanks for being patient during this mini-hiatus! Enjoy :)

So it wasn’t Mikasa on the phone.

“Erwin,” Levi hissed into the speaker, his lips brushing up against the bottom of his phone. “I _just_ got here. Can you relax for a minute? No. I don’t want to – ” he sighed. “Since when is it mandatory? _What_ time? That’s literally in fifteen minutes…Fine. I’ll be there in a bit.” He paced the suite trying desperately to get Erwin off of the phone. I was barely listening to the conversation. Just staring really – I mean, he was still naked. Tracing his muscles with my eyes and going down to his neatly trimmed crotch, following his swaying hips and ass as he walked to the bathroom. I sighed looking down and saw my still-hard self throbbing and wet. He came back wiping the semen from his torso with a hand towel and ended the call.

“So, we’re gonna have to pick this back up later,” he said sympathetically. “I’ve gotta go to a welcome cocktail lunch thing. Gotta make an impression, so I can’t be late.”

“Am I coming with?” I signed, pushing myself up against the cushioned headboard. It was leather-lined pillow-wall. _Cozy._

“I’d say yes, but only presenters are allowed to be there, so you’re on your own for a little bit, okay?” He pulled up his underwear and a pair of black dress pants. “It start’s at 12:15 and ends around 2.” That was disappointing. We just got there and now he was going? What was I supposed to do around a new city on my own? _Buzz._

“Wasn’t mine,” he said, removing his neatly folded dress shirt from his bag. I checked my phone. Mikasa.

Mikasa [11:54am]: There yet?

Eren [11:55am]: Yeah we got here a little while ago and checked in

Mikasa [11:57am]: Okay have fun. Text me later <3

She’s still my sister. _I should text Armin._

“How do I look?” Levi asked straightening a skinny black tie. It’s like his clothes wanted to wear him, I’d never seen anything like it. He was rolling up his sleeves and I could feel my hard-on coming back. I yanked the covers from the bed to cover up. Couldn’t cover up my reddened face. Ugh.

“That good, huh?” He chuckled and walked over to the side of the bed, extending his hand. I took it and rose from the bed so that he and I stood face to face – him all dolled up and me still buck naked with a growing semi. His fingers traced my collarbone and he took a long, deep breath as his eyes wandered along my body. I felt exposed and vulnerable. It was weird. Ten minutes ago, we were rolling around and had our hands all over each other. Then, he opened his mouth and said in a voice that was somewhere between a whisper and a moan, “You’re so beautiful, Eren.” He slid his hand behind my neck and pulled me in for a soft kiss. Not a ravenous, let-me-make-you-mine kiss. A kiss like on the steps of the brownstone in the middle of the night. A kiss that resurrected the trembling that made me drop that coffee mug weeks ago. I _desperately_ wanted to tell him the same thing. Not with my hands, but with my voice. He pulled away.

“What is it?” It’s like he was psychic.

“Nothing,” I lied, taking a seat on the edge of the bed. Don’t know why. He could easily see right through me. He sat next to me and went back to signing.

“Tell me.”

“I just wish I could speak. I wish I could…could tell you how I feel and nuance my voice and whisper in your ear.”

Levi looked down and smiled, shaking his head. “Eren, just because you can’t use your voice doesn’t mean you can’t speak. Do you really think I don’t know how you feel about me?”

I shrugged. He cupped my chin in his hand and made me look at him. His other hand held mine.

“I notice everything, Eren. I notice how you look at me, your smiles, the way you hold my hand, and the way you laugh at what I say. I know _exactly_ how you feel about me and none of it has to do with your ability to talk. You speak to me silently and truthfully, because you use this,” he tapped my chest, “not these,” he touched my lips. “Speaking isn’t something you do with your mouth.”

What a nerd. I could feel myself smiling like an idiot. I guess he was right - maybe it _is_ better like this. I gave his hand a squeeze.

“I’ll be back later and you can text me whenever. I’ll keep my phone on me, okay?” I nodded as he made his way to the door. “Oh, by the way,” he added, “if you wanna get anything from any of the restaurants in the hotel, just use your cardkey,” he motioned to the table next to him. “See ya later, kid.”

The door clicked shut behind him. I stood for a second staring at the door, now alone in our suite. I walked over to the kitchen area and took a look at what we had. _Electric range, oven…_ I popped open the cabinets. _Interesting…_

I grabbed my clothes and got dressed before taking my phone and the cardkey and slipping out the door.

I had two hours and had to get moving.

***

This hotel really _was_ a goddamn palace. I don’t know how expensive it must’ve been to get our suite. Everything was trimmed with either dark, molasses colored wood or gold, which I hope wasn’t real because if it was, I’d start taking it off myself to hock it and pay rent. In the elevator, I automatically just swiped the cardkey and then realized that there weren’t any buttons. Just a black panel underneath the card reader. After a couple seconds, the floor options appeared in a rose gold that matched the soft light above me. I found the “L” for lobby and felt the car begin descending.

The lobby was adorned with unique artwork in dark wood frames and the furnishings were similar to those in our room. The receptionists were busy at the front desk fielding phone calls and checking guests in. _Where’s the exit?_ I followed a bellhop with an empty luggage trolley through the lobby until I saw the glass doors again. _There we go._

I left the hotel and jogged across the street to the small food shop and began hunting for ingredients. Speeding up and down the aisles, I grabbed flour, yeast, salt, oil, a few tomatoes, some seasoning, and rushed back to register. I didn’t even bother to communicate, I just needed to move. It took almost 2 hours to make this and I wanted to get it right. I paid, grabbed my bags, and bolted back to the hotel and up to the room. After I threw all of the ingredients onto the dining table, I stopped and took a damn breath. It was about 12:30.

I closed my eyes and thought back to making this with mom. We’d make our own pizza every Saturday. Mom would do the dough beforehand and then we’d get our own little balls of it and add our toppings from whatever she had in the garden. I only watched her actually make the dough once, though, so I was _kinda_ going off the one memory. I never tried to make it at home because I didn’t want to waste money, but if I could pull this off, it’d be worth it. _I have to trust my gut,_ I thought before cracking open all of the ingredients and working it all together.

An hour later, I had risen pizza dough. Thank the fucking lord. I took a big chunk and started stretching it and it was working. _Holy shit, I did it._ Mom would be proud of me. I started tearing up a little bit. I still miss her and this is the closest I’ve felt to her in a long time. I put it on a sheet tray and smothered it in tomato sauce and cheese before throwing it in the oven. The door’s electronic lock clicked and the door started to open.

“Eren?” Levi called out. When he walked in, the catastrophic realization that the kitchen was a disastrous mess smacked me in the face. _Shit, shit, shit._ I quickly tried to gather the dishes and proceeded to drop the metal mixing bowl onto the floor, followed by the whisk, rolling pin, and measuring scoops. “What the hell are you doing?” he laughed, turning into the kitchen area. “What’s all this?”

I dropped everything onto the table. “I thought I’d make us something to eat for when you got back.”

“You went out and bought shit and cooked?”

I nodded.

“Well it smells great. What’re we having?”

I pointed to the oven before dropping everything into the sink to wash. I turned on the faucet and rolled up my sleeves to start when Levi peeked through the oven window.

“You’re making pizza? From scratch?”

I tried to hide a smile and focus on washing. He came behind me and planted a kiss just below my neck. “You’re awesome.” He rested his cheek on my back and I could feel the stubble of his undercut on the nape of my neck and had to stifle a cackle. He noticed and proceeded to be a little shit and tickle me on purpose. My knees buckled. I dropped the dishes and quickly turned around. With soapy hands, I grabbed his face and kissed him.  

“You know,” he continued, “this is exactly what I was talking about before.” This time, I purposefully flashed a smile. “C’mon. Let’s relax a bit. That lunch was torture and the food was shit, so I’m actually kinda hungry.” Levi made his way to the bed and flung himself facedown onto the comforter, heaving a sigh. I turned off the water and dried my hands before sitting next to him. I was about to try and turn him over when I heard a muffled snore. _Let him sleep._ I lifted his legs onto the bed and put a pillow beneath his head. He was totally knocked out. When the pillow slipped under his cheek, he wrapped his arms around his and cuddled up next to it. He was so vulnerable and innocent. The man who was so suave, calm, collected, and on point was just a peaceful, sleeping angel. Wow. I’m such a damn sap. I went and checked the pizza timer. Ten more minutes. I finished up the dishes and put everything away before finally taking it out of the oven and sliding it onto a big platter. It was big enough for both of us. Hot, though. Took a slight burn for me to realize that.  

Levi stirred and sat up. “What time is it?” He rubbed his eyes and looked over to me.

“You’ve been asleep for like 10 minutes. This woke you up, huh?” I signed. He sprung to his feet as I sliced the pizza.

“This looks and smells great,” Levi said, eyeing each slice. He actually licked his lips like a cartoon character. Sometimes I forget that he has his PhD and is an actual distinguished academic. As soon as I finished cutting, he swiped the biggest slice there and scarfed it down. No utensils. My eyes widened.

“Wha?” he said through a full mouth.

“No fork and knife. I’m impressed.”

He realized what he was doing and paused. After a moment, he shrugged and continued eating. I joined in and we finished the whole thing in ten minutes.

***

Stohess was beautiful at night and the view from our room was spectacular. The city below was glowing yellow and orange against the backdrop of mountains blanketed in nighttime navy. The moonlight bounced off of the stone façade of one of the mountains. I noticed the lights behind me start to dim. _Hm?_ I turned and saw Levi walking over to the window to join me.

“Nice, huh?”

I nodded. Levi ran his hands through my hair and we stood in silence for a little bit. I didn’t want to go home. We were only there for less than a day together, but it felt so…right? It’s so cliché, but I’d never been more comfortable with another person ever.

“Listen, I’ve gotta tell you something.”

I turned and looked over to him. He kept staring out the window.

“I kind of didn’t tell you part of the reason why I asked you to come with me here.” I nudged him to face me. He didn’t budge. “Eren, part of my presentation tomorrow is a demonstration of the program me and Hanji were working on that you helped with.” _He already told me this. Where’s he going with this?_ “You’re gonna be there for the presentation, which you already know.” He finally turned and faced me. “I’m going to need you to demo the program and answer some audience questions.”

_Fuck. No._

I frantically shook my head and walked away from the window. I didn’t do public speaking. Well, you know. Public anything really. There’s absolutely no way I was sitting my ass in front of an auditorium full of strangers and interacting with them. I could feel tears welling up in my eyes. _Don’t cry…_

“Eren, look, I know you’re not comfortable with it,” he continued, approaching me. “I just didn’t tell you back home because I knew you wouldn’t agree to even come with me.” I backed away again and angrily signed, “So you waited until I couldn’t get away to tell me? Trap me into doing something I can’t even think about doing?” A tear escaped and rolled down my cheek. Followed by another.

“Eren, I’m sorry, I – ”

“Don’t,” I interrupted. I threw my hands up and left, grabbing my cardkey from the table and wiping tears away as the fell faster. I could hear Levi call my name just before the door shut behind me. I didn’t want to deal with the elevator, so I ducked into the stairwell tucked in a corner of the atrium. There was a flight that went up. _Roof access?_ I heard Levi calling my name in the atrium so I bolted up the stairs. I was so pissed. I never thought that he’d lie to me. It doesn’t even matter that he meant well, he should’ve asked me back at home and gave me a fair shot to talk about it. Like honestly.

At the top of the stairs, there was a doorway that led to the roof of the hotel. If the view from the room was beautiful, this view was reserved for gods. The breeze through the surrounding mountain range swept across the flat roof and rushed under my arms. If I closed my eyes, it felt like I was flying. I walked over to the edge of the roof and leaned against the protective railing, looking out over everything. A minute later, I heard footsteps grow closer. I thought it was Levi, until the voice broke through the wind.

“Jaeger?”

I wheeled around at the sound of Jean’s voice. “Kirschtein?” I quickly wiped away the threat of a tear. “What’re you doing here?” _Buzz._ I pulled out my phone and put it on silent.

“My uncle’s on the board for one of the fellowship committees that’s watching presentations,” he explained through sign. “Mom said it’d be a good opportunity, so here I am. Are you alright?”

I sighed and attempted to compose myself. “Yeah. What do you care?”

“Jeez, relax,” he walked over to me. “I’m just asking. Upset people and roofs don’t usually mix well.”

We both turned and faced the horizon. I shifted away from him at the thought of the roller coaster of events between the two of us. This was the first time anything normal was happening. He noticed me moving away.

“Look, I’m sorry for being a jerk and then coming onto you like that back home.”

I shrugged.

“Really. I am,” he explained. I didn’t believe it for a second, but he seemed genuine. “Wasn’t fair to you.”

After a second I faced him and said, “It was kind of a dick move. Especially that thing in the library.”

Jean chuckled flashing his teeth in a crooked smile. “Yeah, my bad.”

“Why’d you do it?”

“Honestly?” He paused. “Because you’re cute.” I shot him a dirty look. “You are. It’s the truth. And you’re with Levi, I get it.”

“Yeah. I am.”

Jean turned and rested his back against the railing. “Then why are you here choking back tears?”

“That’s none of your business,” I retorted, pushing away from the railing. Another breeze blew and the roof darkened even more as a cloud made its way in front of the moon.

“Fair enough,” he said aloud, walking to the door. “I come up here every night, so if you ever wanna talk. Just remember, though,” he added, “is he with you because he cares or because he wants something from you?”

The metal door closed heavily and I was alone.

***

I have no clue how long I stood up there on the roof. Had to be hours because the lights in the city started to go out as people went to bed. I didn’t know what to think. What Kirschtein said was valid. _Was he just using me?_ _Why wouldn’t he just tell me that he needed me to present something?_ It was just fucking frustrating. Honestly, if we talked about it before we left, I probably would’ve been fine with it because we could practice and shit. But now? I don’t know. Suddenly, I heard the metal door fling open.

“Oh my god, _there_ you are,” Levi sighed, out of breath and disheveled as he burst through the door to the roof. “You had me scared to death, you idiot. What the hell are you doing not answering my texts and calls? What’s wrong with you?” He was getting hysterical. “What’s…wrong,” he was starting to hyperventilate. He doubled over, hands on his knees, breathing heavily. “Eren…I’m…I’m sorry.” His voice was barely a whisper. I made my way over to him. I was maybe half a foot away from him when I saw them. Tears. He was crying. I extended my hand and rested it on his head. He looked up and I was going to sign something, but before I could get my hands in position, he threw his arms around me and squeezed me tight. “I’m sorry…” he stifled a sob into my chest. _What the hell?_ I slipped my arms around his waist and squeezed back. He pulled his head from my chest and I saw the tears leaking from his gray eyes, illuminated by moonlight.

I pulled away and wiped the tears from them and signed, “I need to ask you two questions.”

“Okay,” he breathed.

“Are you with me because you like me or because I can help your work?”

“Seriously?” he said, surprised at the question. “It’s because I really like you, Eren. Remember? I was interested in you before I knew you were mute.”

“Okay. Two – do you promise to never lie to me again? No matter what?”

“Yes,” he said without missing a beat.

“Good. Come here,” I took his hand and guided him to the edge of the roof. “Nice, huh?”

Levi looked out and smiled. “I know something even more beautiful,” he said, turning to me. He ran his hand along my jaw and brushed my cheek with his thumb. I leaned into his hand. He might’ve lied, but he really was looking trying to do the best thing. And he promised not to lie to me again. _And_ it would make him happy for me to do it.

“You’ll be right there the whole time?” I asked.

“The whole time.”

I took a beat. “I’ll do it.”

“Eren, thank you so much.” He leaned over and kissed me. “I owe you. And I’ll make it up to you after the presentation tomorrow. I promise.”

“You don’t owe me anything,” I replied. “Just making you happy is good enough for me.”

“Shh…” He kissed me again. “Let’s go back inside. It’s kinda cold up here.” It was, so I started walking with Levi to the door. Just before we went back down the stairs, he said, “And not a _word_ about the crying thing. I swear to god, I’ll kill you.” I laughed and made my way down the stairs. Levi called after me, scurrying down the stairs behind me, “Eren, I’m serious!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, feedback is more than welcome :) you can comment or message me at jinseinotsuki.tumblr.com and i'll do my best to answer quick! ^_^
> 
> <3


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> well this came out quickly o.o

Levi might’ve liked a room with a view, but I wasn’t a fan of the view costing me my retinas at like 6am. I scowled and turned over onto my left only to be greeted by the most uncomfortable looking sleeping position I’d ever seen. He took up almost three quarters of the bed. I don’t understand how someone his height manages to conquer a king-sized bed in sleep. His head was about 6 inches below the nearest pillow. His left leg was kicked out to the size, fully extended, with his toes brushing the last remaining sliver of blanket that was left on the bed. His right leg was twisted back, almost like he was gearing up to kick a ball or something. His right arm was covering his face and his left was straight out to the side, reaching towards his edge of the bed. As my sleep lifted and was replaced with confusion as to how the fuck anyone could sleep like this, I noticed details about his body I didn’t notice before. Like his stubble. Just under his forearm, his mouth was exposed and black hair peppered the ivory skin around it. It wasn’t super thick, but it was noticeable. I ran my finger really lightly along his chin and smiled at its prickliness. I didn’t really grow that much facial hair, or body hair for that matter, so feeling his stubble was different. Good different. Then there was this birthmark just underneath his right nipple, too. It wasn’t obvious until now, with the sunlight hitting his skin at the right angle. It was just a little discoloration. He shifted, moving his arm from his face and turning his head toward the window. I quickly slid back so that the sun didn’t wake him like it did me. His hair was a disaster. Like a literal disaster. The bangs that usually rest easily along his forehead were matted to his skin and the rest of his hair was in complete disarray, succumbing to a combination of sweat and static electricity. When I ran my hand through to tame it, his eyelids twitched and I could hear his let out an enormous sigh. I could’ve sworn I saw his lips curl into a hint of a smile. He opened one eye.

“Morning,” he whispered in a voice muddled by sleep.

I answered with a smile.

“Hm.” Both of his eyes opened and he leaned back a little bit. “Don’t move.” He leaned over to the bedside table and grabbed his phone. “Smile.” I raised my eyebrow at him. It was almost 6:30 in the morning. What the hell. “Just do it!” he urged.

I shrugged and obliged, flashing the most ridiculous, ear-to-ear, tooth-baring smile I could muster as he snapped a picture. “Perfect.”

“Let me see,” I signed. Levi locked his phone and tossed it back onto the bedside table.

“Nope. But the way the sun was behind you made you look like you had a halo.”

I felt my face turn pink. “You’re weird.”

“You’re pretty.” He leaned forward and kissed me through a smile. “Breakfast? This hotel has a great breakfast buffet.”

Breakfast sounded great. I bounced up off of the bed and stretched out. I felt my pubes pull out from beneath my boxers a bit. The sunrise over the mountains was actually really nice now, cloaking the mountain city in gold. I turned and looked over at Levi and he was just staring at me. “What?”

“Nothing,” he said. “I just love that I woke up with you next to me. Don’t know how I got so lucky.”

I crawled across the bed and sat on my heels in front of him. “I could get used to waking up to you, too.” I ran my fingers along his stubble again and smiled at the feeling.

“Ugh, I have to shave.”

“If we didn’t have the presentation, I’d say don’t.”

He cocked his eyebrow. “You like this stubble?”

“Kinda,” I signed sheepishly.

“How about now?” He lunged forward and rubbed his chin into my neck. “You like it now?” Oh my god, the tickling. I squirmed underneath him as he continued to dig his stubble into almost every part of my body. When he got to my stomach, it roared in hunger. He perked up.

“Whoa, someone’s hungry. C’mon.” He pulled me up and kissed me. “I’m gonna shower and then we’ll go.”

***

Breakfast was a dream. Very different from the ridiculously sweet pastries and coffee from the shop back home. But the enjoyment quickly faded when we started to get dressed for the presentation. The opening talk started at 8 and I had to be there with Levi the whole time and wait around until it was his, well, _our_ turn around 10. I fished for my outfit, which was minimal at best. I only had one pair of black dress pants that were a size too big and my white button down dress shirt. _Shit_. I furiously dug through the duffel bag. _They’re not here._

“You okay?” Levi asked straightening his tie and rolling up the sleeves of a jet-black shirt that matched both his pants and his hair. Now that he was freshly shaven, he looked like a model from one of those high-end magazines. I swallowed hard. I was gonna look like absolute shit next to him.

“I didn’t pack dress shoes. I completely forgot.” I went back and burrowed through all of the pockets and nothing.

“It’s okay. Just wear your sneakers.”

I looked at him with disbelief. “Sneakers. Really. You look like you just walked off the runway and I’m gonna look like a slob.”

He squatted next to me. “You don’t look like a slob. If you really want, we can go shopping later for some clothes. My treat. But believe me when I tell you that once you see some of what these people are wearing, you won’t feel _nearly_ as bad as you do now. Okay?”

I shrugged.

“Besides,” he leaned in close, “it’s just you and me in there, okay?” He kissed my nose.

I smiled weakly and signed, “You’re not buying me clothes.”

“Fine, fine. But it doesn’t matter to me what you wear. I’ll always think you look great.”

He always knew just what to say. That idiot.

***

I’m 90% sure I was the only one wearing sneakers. The opening talk was a welcome thing that the conference sponsor used to drone on and on about how great they were. We were right in the middle of the large conference room. There had to be about 200 people sitting in the metal chairs set up throughout the room. I could see that Erwin guy a few rows away. It’s kinda hard to miss him. A man who looked like he was about to take his last breath was up on the stage at the podium hunched over his notecards, adjusting his glasses to read them at a glacial pace. I thumbed through my phone and texted Armin.

Eren [8:29am]: Hey

Armin [8:31am]: Hey! How’s the conference?

Eren [8:32am]: Alright I guess. The opening stuff just started. You’ll never guess who’s here

I looked around to make sure I wasn’t missing anything important. Same dude at the podium. I glanced over to Levi who was trying so hard not to nod off. An elbow to his side perked him back up and earned me a scowl.

Armin [8:34am]: Who?

Eren [8:37am]: Remember that Jean guy that came into the shop once? He was deaf and hit on Marco and made that move on me?

Armin [8:38am]: SHUT THE FUCK UP

Eren [8:39am]: Yeah

When I looked back up, I saw Kirschtein’s light brown hair up at the front. He must’ve felt me looking at him because he turned around and waved with half a smile. I waved back, mirroring his half-smile. I quickly looked over at Levi. His head was dangling forward and he was out. I poked his cheek with no response. Up at the podium, the man finished up and received his light applause. Levi’s ear twitched and he started to wake up.

Armin [8:45am]: Did he do anything?

Eren [8:46am]: Eh. Nothing ridiculous. He’s been pretty alright. We talked for a little bit last night.

Armin [8:48am]: And does Levi know?

Eren [8:51am]: I’ll cross that bridge later.

“Is it over yet?” Levi whispered as the crowd began to stir. People started to rise from their seats and chatter slowly boiled up to a roar. “I’ll take that as a yes. C’mon.” He let out a huge yawn and offered his hand to me. I took it and we proceeded to follow the slow-moving crowd exiting the room. “We should go to our conference room and prep. It’s just down this hallway.” Levi was different from the cutesy boyfriend I was sharing a bed with. He was all business. Stone-faced. He was barely holding my hand and pushed through the crowds.

“Levi!” A booming voice echoed through the hallway. Levi stopped and sighed.

“Erwin, we don’t have time to talk. I’ve gotta set up my presentation and practice with Eren.” The blond man caught up with us.

“Then I’ll walk with you. Hello, Eren.” He extended his hand, which I shook. His hands were bigger than mine and his handshake was strong. “Enjoying your first conference?”

I nodded and asked, “Do you sign?”

“A little,” he replied, slowly. “Thanks to Levi.”

“Are there a lot more of those speeches?”

Erwin scoffed. “Please,” he spoke. “There’s nothing _but_ talking. Some of it’s interesting. Some of it’s annoying. But we get to stay in this place, so it’s always a treat.”

Levi was getting impatient. “Erwin, we aren’t walking. Either shut up or come with us.”

“You need to calm down. You’re presentation will be fine.”

“Not without practice.”

“Shouldn’t you have thought of that before the day of?” He turned to me. “Don’t you think so, Eren?”

I thought of the little spat we had last night about telling me about the presentation and not getting to practice. _Uh…_

“Don’t give him the pleasure of being right, Eren. Let’s go.”

Levi turned on his heels and sped off into the conference room two doors from the big one we were just in. Erwin motioned for me to go and said, “See you in a bit. Good luck. And,” he leaned in closer, “just roll with Levi. He gets nervous before presentations like this.” He stood back up, adjusted his navy suit jacket and walked back to the crowd. I turned to go into the room with Levi and felt a hand on my shoulder. _What the…?_ I turned around and was greeted by a surprisingly well put together Jean.

“Hey,” I signed. “What’s going on?”

“You and Levi. You guys okay? Think about what I told you?”

I raised my eyebrow. “Yes. We’re great. And I straight up asked him and he’s not just using me.”

“Good. Don’t need this cute face getting’ hurt.” He reached over and pinched my cheek hard. _Ow._ I shot him a nasty look. “I’ll be sure to catch your presentation.”

“Eren, come on!” Levi called from the conference room, poking his head out the door. “Oh,” he walked back over to me and Jean. “Hi, Mr. Kirschtein. How’re you?” he signed.

“Good, thanks. I’m looking forward to watching your talk.”

“Well, it’ll be a pleasure having you there where I can keep an eye on you.” Levi’s expression wasn’t a playful one – he was completely stone-faced, completely emotionless, giving his signing a contrived air. I _did_ tell him what happened in the library. Maybe I shouldn’t be around Jean at all. He seemed sincere about backing off last night on the roof, but I hadn’t told Levi that we were both up there. “Let’s go, Eren.” I waved to Jean and he curtly waved back, his face tightening with simmering annoyance at Levi’s obvious dig. I thought about bringing up last night’s conversation with Jean when we got into the conference room, but Levi was so focused on practicing that there was no way he’d be able to have a conversation.

“Okay,” he began. “Here’s how it’s gonna go – ” The alarm on his phone went off. “Shit, it’s already 9:30. People are gonna start coming in.” He pulled a chair in front of his already set up laptop. “You’re gonna sit here,” he zipped over to the podium, “and I’ll be here talking. It won’t be the whole time you’re demonstrating. Only for a little bit. I’ll say when you’re going to go and I’ll introduce you.” I walked over to the podium and put my hand on his shoulder. “What?” he snapped. I rested my left hand on his cheek and kissed him softly. I pulled away and signed, “You’re gonna do great. Breathe.” Inside, I was dying. Honestly. I was nervous as all hell. But I needed to make sure that Levi was okay before I could even _think_ about relaxing. A thin man with sunken eyes walked into the room.

“Dr. Ackerman, nice to see you back here this year,” he said in a gruff baritone.

Levi transformed into this personable, social butterfly right before my eyes. “Dr. Shadis, how are you!” He approached him and shook his hand enthusiastically. “I’m glad to be back.”

“Looks like you’ve been up to exciting research. And who’s this?” He gestured to me.

“This is my assistant, Eren Jaeger. He’s been helping me develop the program I’m presenting.”

“Well, Eren Jaeger,” the man named Shadis spoke at me, “I’m looking forward to seeing what you’re presenting.” He turned back to Levi. “I’m going to round up my colleagues and bring them in. I’m sure they’ll be quite interested in your developments.”

“Thank you, sir.” And just like that, he vanished back into the crowds mingling in the hallway. Levi let out a sigh. “That,” he said, turning back to me, “was Dr. Keith Shadis. He was my dissertation advisor back in graduate school. Always need to impress him.”

“You’re gonna do great.”

“Thanks, kid. How’re _you_ holding up? You gonna be okay for this?”

I reached out for his hand. He took mine and I squeezed. I gave him a nod and a smile.

“Good. Because it’s about time to start.”

Levi made his way up to the podium and I took my seat in front of the laptop. The projector overhead flickered on and displayed the first slide of his PowerPoint: “Sign Language and Computational Linguistics.” I felt my stomach flutter with anxiety as a line of people started to come in and fill the 40-seat room. Dr. Shadis and his colleagues came in, followed by Erwin and other groups of people chatting about the presentation they just came from. The last person to come in before the room settled was Jean. He stood along the side of the room, opting to lean against the wall instead of taking a seat. I looked over to him and signed, “Do you want me to translate?”

He shook his head and replied, “Thanks, though.”

Levi looked over to me and mouthed, “Ready?” I flashed him a thumbs-up. _Here we go._

“Good morning, everyone,” Levi said into the microphone. The crowd settled into their seats and he continued to the introduction of his presentation. Watching Levi settle into his presentation was incredible. I could actually see the nerves Erwin was talking about completely disappear. It made _me_ feel better about it. Although I could feel people looking at me just sitting there. I tried to just ignore the feeling and keep my eyes on Levi. Every time he gestured to the slides on the screen, he would flash me a smile and a wink. He was talking about syntactic theory and sign language first and I recognized some of what he referenced from articles I looked at for him. I’m glad what I did helped. I didn’t really know what I was doing honestly. As he continued on to sign language and computational linguistics, I realized that this is all we were working toward over the past two weeks of knowing each other. What was going to happen when we got back? Would I just go back to working at the coffeeshop and see Levi whenever he could drop by? Do I just go to his office? What if I can’t get there? Would we just start to drift apart? There’s no way this relationship could just last two weeks. I felt my heart start to race and my palms start to sweat. I looked up at Levi and he was still easing through his presentation. Maybe Jean _was_ right. Maybe he just needed me to get his work done faster. He literally has no reason to see me any more. _But I asked Levi and he said it had nothing to do with that…?_ My head started to hurt.

“And now to show the joining of computational linguistics and sign language, my research assistant Eren Jaeger will demonstrate our program.” Light applause followed and I swallowed hard. Levi hit a couple of buttons on the podium and the projector mirrored the screen on the laptop in front of me – the familiar interface that I worked with a bunch of times. I waved hello to the crowd and took a deep breath. Levi nodded to me and I slowly started to sign into the camera.

“HELLO. MY NAME IS EREN JAEGER,” the screen displayed, translating my signs. It was still really cool even after all the practice with it. The crowd shifted in their seats and let out softs “oohs.” I saw Jean and Erwin’s impressed looks. Levi smiled at me, pleased with the reaction. He signed to me, “Go a little quicker. Talk with me.”

I nodded. “HOW ARE YOU DR. ACKERMAN?”

“I’m well, thank you, Eren. How’re you?” he replied aloud.

“CONSIDERING THAT EVERYONE IS LOOKING AT ME, I’M OKAY.” A few chuckles came from the audience. _That was unexpected._ It took Levi by surprise, too. He turned out to the audience.

“Would anyone like to ask Eren questions about the software?”

I saw hands shoot up.

“Yes, Dr. Smith?” I figured he’d pick Erwin.

“Eren,” he began, “do you find the program accurate as someone who has signed their whole life?”

“A LOT OF THE WORK I DID WITH DR. ACKERMAN WAS TO WORK ON THE ACCURACY OF THE TRANSLATION. SO IT’S GOTTEN A LOT BETTER.”

Hands raised again. “Yes, Dr. Shadis?” Again, expected.

“As someone who signs, do you think that this will help the deaf/mute community? And how?”

“WELL, IF WE FIND A WAY TO MAKE THIS PORTABLE AND AVAILABLE, THIS WILL BE AN AWESOME WAY FOR US TO COMMUNICATE WITH EVERYONE. THAT’S THE FIRST THING I REMEMBER THINKING WHEN I FIRST SAW THIS.”

I saw Jean walk from the wall to the front of the audience. “Mr. Kirschtein?” Levi signed. It was hard to see what he was signing from the angle, but whatever he said made Levi fall silent. They both looked over to me as awkward silence fell over the whole room.

“For those of you who couldn’t see Mr. Kirschtein’s question, he asked,” Levi cleared his throat, “he asked – do you think that the prevalence of this software will cause people to forego learning sign language to communicate with the deaf/mute community?”

_Oh shit._ I hadn’t thought about that and I don’t think Levi did either. What was I supposed to say? Before I could come up with an answer, I just started signing without thinking

“NO. THIS TOOL CAN ALSO BE USED TO TEACH SIGN LANGUAGE. IT ALL COMES DOWN TO WHO USES IT AND FOR WHAT.”

I could see Levi heave a sigh of relief. “That’s all the questions for now. Thank you, Eren, for your demonstration.” I got moderate applause. That was nice. And the best part is that my part was finished. Thank god. Levi gave me a huge smile and went back to talking about his research and referencing slides.

_I did it._

***

When the presentation was over and Levi fielded all of _his_ questions, there was a flurry of activity. People were coming up to him after and continued asking him about the program and his work. I just sunk back a bit and sat behind the podium where no one could see me. My thoughts went back to what’ll happen after we get home. I just wanted to know where we stood. Was I just a fling? I was spacing out until I saw Jean pop into my line of sight.

“Hello, there,” he signed. “Looks like Levi’s enjoying the spotlight.” I peered around the podium and saw him laughing and joking with Erwin, Dr. Shadis, and some other people.

“I guess.”

“What?”

“Nothing. I really shouldn’t be talking to you. Levi isn’t happy about what you did in the library.”

Jean sat down across from me. “I figured you told him that. Did you tell him about last night?”

I shook my head.

“You should. I can’t lose my assistant position in the department. I feel like shit for being stupid.”

“We’ll see. So,” I hesitated for a minute.

“So?”

“So what really happened between you and Marco? You seemed to be really into him when you came into our shop.”

Jean sighed and hung his head for a moment before answering. “He just wasn’t my type.”

“And what type is that?”

He shrugged. “Not him. He was too…I don’t know. We just didn’t click. We went on a date or two and we just stopped talking.”

“Fair enough, I guess.”

Jean looked up at a figure standing next to me. “Hello, sir.” It was Levi.

“What’s going on here?” he signed.

“Nothing,” I answered quickly. “We were just talking about a friend of ours back home.”

“Yeah,” Jean added. “Dr. Levi, I just wanted to apologize for anything I did to come between you and Eren.” My eyes widened at the sudden confession. I didn’t know him well, but this seemed really out of character for him.

Levi surveyed him with a skeptical look. “Okay,” he replied. “I accept your apology. Does this mean you’re gonna stop hating each other? Because a team that works together is better than one that fights all the time.”

Jean and I exchanged a look. _Work together?_ “Um, I guess? Is that what you want?” I asked.

“Sure, I could always use a hand with things. Now that this presentation is over, we can send out the paper for publication and then there’s finals and summer session coming up. There’s loads to do.”

Well that answered the question about seeing him when we got home.

“I’m good if you are,” Jean said to me.

I extended my hand for him to shake. He did.  

“Now, if you don’t mind, Eren and I have to go. I’ll see you back at school, Jean.”

***

“Well that was fun, huh?” Levi said as we rode the elevator up to the 30th floor. The professional persona slowly melted away as we got closer to our room until the Levi in front of me holding my waist was the Levi from last night. He heaved a sigh and leaned up against me. “I’ve gotta make this up to you.” He slipped his hand into mine and rubbed my hand with his thumb. “You like burgers?”

I furiously signaled yes.

“Great. There’s this amazing gourmet burger place downtown,” the elevator opened to the atrium, “I just know you’ll love it. It’ll be the best lunch you’ve ever had.”

“Okay, sounds good.”

We walked into our room, Levi undressing and redressing in more casual clothes. Meanwhile, I was still thinking about the future of our relationship. Great.

“What’s wrong?” Levi asked as he pulled up his jeans. I didn’t answer. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah,” I signed before pulling out my next outfit.

“Well that’s a lie.” He fastened a belt and sat on the bed near me. “Tell me.”

“Where are we?” I asked.

“Uh, Stohess? Did you hit your head or something?”

“No, I mean where are _we_? _What_ are we?”

“Where’s this coming from?”

I shrugged. “Now that this presentation is done, yeah we have all that other stuff you said we’re going to work on and with Jean now, but I’m your boyfriend, not _just_ your research assistant. We’ve only had a couple times where we were together and not talking about work – ”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” he interrupted. “Last night, I remember telling you that I was with you because I really like _you_. It has nothing to do with work. Eren,” he took my hand, “we’ve known each other for two weeks and in that time, you’ve become one of my favorite people in the world. My cats even noticed I’m acting differently.” I forgot about them.

“Can I confess something?” he continued.

“What?”

“I tell Isabel and Farlan about you.”

“You talk to your cats about me? What do you tell them?”

He looked away. “Just random stuff. Like the way your eyes shine in the light. And how your brow furrows after you sneeze.”

“You’re weird.”

A smile crept onto Levi’s face. “Feeling better?”

“Yeah. I guess. Maybe a burger will help.”

“Come on, get dressed and we’ll have a day just for us. You, me, and this city. And not a word about work, okay?”

“Promise?”

He put his hand on my cheek. “Promise.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for putting up with my ridiculously inconsistent update frequency...you guys are the best :) i love hearing what you think, so feel free to drop me a message in the comments or at jinseinotsuki.tumblr.com ^.^
> 
> <3


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